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Cast: Nakuul Mehta, Anya Singh, Karan Wahi, Jaaved Jaaferi.
Creator: Harsh Dedhia
Director: Harsh Dedhia
Streaming On: Zee5
Language: Hindi
Runtime: 8 Episodes Around 40 Minutes Each.
Never Kiss Your Best Friend 2 Review: What’s It About:
So they kissed, of course Sumer and Tanie. And things took a turn for good. But turned out their happiness wasn’t long-lived and they parted ways. Season 2 begins exploring that longing and the reason they separated. While destiny brings them new partners, it also brings them face to face again. Can best friends be a couple? We are still exploring the same.
Never Kiss Your Best Friend 2 Review: What Works:
In my review for season one of the Nakuul Mehta starrer is wrote this one is For the audience who love cheese and vanilla onscreen. And I still stand firm on my words. There is a dedicated audience who love such trajectories and they will watch it regardless of any reviews. But the best part is that the makers are themselves now taking effort to go deeper than surface level. A partial misfire of sorts, but good things and efforts must be appreciated.
So the story takes a 2-year leap and enters the life of updated versions of the people from season 1. Everyone has a new hairstyle and kind of Marry Poppins approach to their dressing sense (about that later). So now these are grown-up individuals (minus Tanie) navigating their lives and making sense of it because that is what grown-ups are supposed to do (Not Tanie). With the same there are their problems and conflicts that they need to solve but not let it affect their professional commitments.
Never Kiss Your Best Friend Season 2 is as staple as it gets but there comes a point mid season when the show takes itself seriously (finally). The season 1 could have been a winner for my 14 year old self who was obsessed with Sumrit Shahi’s Just Friends and Never Kiss Your Bestfriend (books on which the show is based on). But the 25-year-olf that I am now, doesn’t want it to be one tone paper thin story. Sumrit, Durjoy Dutta and Mishkka Shekhawat who own the story credit now take this characters and try to weave some complex narratives.
Remember Jaane Tu… Ya Jaane Na, when Jay and Aditi go on different dates and it leads to Kahin To? Well, the makers here try to get in that trajectory. I know it’s a difficult zone and I am happy to report, they do succeed in acing it partially. What is love exactly for Sumer and Tanie? Are they friends? Best friends? Lovers? Or something else? The questions start haunting as soon as they find other partners and it is good to see makers taking effort to get into it.
The second half of the season is an entire different animal as compared to the first. There are many good points including that acknowledgment about men bottling emotions, girls having the choice to choose who they want to be with and love knocking doors at older age. It is fodder for every mills and boons lovers and you can survive through the first season and first half of the second to reach it.
Never Kiss Your Best Friend 2 Review: Star Performance:
Nakuul Mehta is if Hrithik Roshan and Ranbir Kapoor had a baby one day. The actor looks like he is inspired by the two actors to shape Sumer. As I said in season 1 review, the Aae Dil Hai Mushkil hangover still remains strong.
Anya Singh continues to be Tanie from season 1 without much a difference. While the entire world around her has evolved, her character is written in a way where the only evolution is her hairstyle where you can see hair extensions.
Karan Wahi manages to be the best out of the lot here. The actor has to be the object of desire and he looks like one. But the world build around him is so fickle and one dimensional, that you cannot invest much.
Never Kiss Your Best Friend 2 Review: What Doesn’t Work:
Let’s start with the fact that you introduce Karan Wahi as superstar Karan who only does films, because TV and OTT is a weak option as per him. But how is your superstar roaming around like no one knows him on the streets of London? The pap culture is crazy in the west and people are similarly obsessed with the stars. They might not mob them, but also not let them move around so unnoticed.
Also, why is he in London. A Hindi speaking actor is making films on London in Hindi, for a production house that has an office in London making Hindi content. Who is watching? Where is it releasing? How is a Hindi film made in London earning $300 Million at their Box Office? And why did no one point out this weird trajectory? And how is Jaaved Jaaferi who claims to love Karan’s mother, not aware that he is her son? He is a top level stalker, you cannot expect him to miss out on this information.
Why does no one have cash crunch issues? Tanie is on probation, and fired hundred times, she never asks for money from her parents. Who is providing her in secret then? Meanwhile, who’s idea was it to give Tanie a transformation that will end up looking like she is about to star is a low budget circus drama?
Never Kiss Your Best Friend 2 Review: Last Words:
While being self aware and deeper, Never Kiss Your Best Friend Season 2 also ends up being confusing at points. And you cannot ignore that. I wish someday they stop thinking of audience as naive kids with no logic in their heads. Maybe they will make content that is less spoon-feeding and more well-sketched.
Saw Sony Liv’s new show? Read our Undekhi Season 2 Review here.
