The Night Manager Part 1 Review: Perfect to Set The Pulse Rate of the Audience
Cast: Aditya Roy Kapur, Anil Kapoor, Tillotama Shome, Sobhita Dhulipala, Saswata Chatterjee
Creator: Sandeep Modi
Streaming Platform: Disney+Hotstar
Filmyhype.com Ratings: 3.5/5 (three and a half stars) [yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]
The web series The Night Manager starring Anil Kapoor and Aditya Roy Kapur has been released on Disney Plus Hotstar. It is the Indian adaptation of the British series, starring Tom Hiddleston (Loki) in Marvel Studios’ superhero films. This series is being released in two parts. Currently, four episodes have been released, with an average running time of 45 minutes. The rest of the part will be released in June, the pre-cap of which is bundled with the last episode. The list of adapted series on Disney Plus Hotstar is quite long. From Criminal Justice to Out of Love, there are adaptations of British soap operas. These series were a huge success and were loved by the audience. The name of The Night Manager has now been added to this list. The first web series on John Le Carre’s worldwide famous novel The Night Manager was made some seven years ago.
It became a sensation as soon as it aired on BBC One. Won dozens of awards. And, then began the process of making it in different languages around the world. After traveling around three fourth of the world, this series has now reached India. The Night Manager is a spy-action thriller. Sandeep Modi directed it. The screenplay is written by Sridhar Raghavan, who is also the writer of Pathan. The Night Manager looks good visually. Magnificent locations, actors wearing suit boots, stylish action, everything is there… but still something rattles. The kind of thrill that should be experienced in the Spy series, does not happen. Unlike other foreign adaptations, this series does not feel natural. Gives a feeling of being artificial. However, the flow of the story and the combination of acting and visuals make it a must-watch.
The Night Manager Part 1 Review: The Story Plot
Shantanu Sengupta or Shaan Sengupta is an ex-navy lieutenant and night manager at The Orient Pearl Hotel in Dhaka, where he is approached by a 14-year-old girl, Safina, the wife of the hotel’s owner, Freddy Rahman. Freddy is not only the owner of the hotel but also a member of an international gang dealing in illegal arms. After getting evidence in this regard from Safina, Shaan Sengupta tries to rescue her and send her to India with the help of the Indian Intelligence Agency but fails. Freddy gets Safina murdered. This guilt keeps on nagging Shaan. After some time, Shaan joins Shailendra Singh Rungta’s gang and starts spying undercover after being convinced by Lipika Saikia Rao, an officer of the Research Administration Wing.
Will Shaan be successful in his mission? Will he be able to avenge Safina’s death? Will Rungta catch Shaan already? Will Shaan be able to bring down Rungta’s empire? The answers to all these questions will be found in the next part of the series. The screenplay for The Night Manager is written by Sridhar Raghavan, the author of Pathan. The series begins with scenes of Shaan escaping from the police van. After this, the story reaches Dhaka city of Bangladesh, where Shaan is the night manager of the hotel.
Demonstrations are taking place here on the issue of displacement of Rohingya Muslims, due to which the guests have been imprisoned in the hotel. Shaan is shown dealing with their problems. In this sequence, he meets Safina. No time has been spent on Shaan’s background. He has some nightmares, which are related to an operation done while in service. In this operation, Shaan could not save the children. However, no attempt has been made to go into its detail, just dialogues have been used. The guilt of his past emerges after Safina dies. Shaan holds Rungta responsible for this. Perhaps this is the reason why he joins Rungta’s gang at the behest of Saikia. Here too he finds a child Taha, who is Rungta’s son and a key character in Shaan’s mission.
The Night Manager Part 1 Review and Analysis
The series starts well but loses its grip after the second episode. The chance meeting of night manager Shaan and Shailendra Rungta impresses the series. This is also an important part of the story. The language of Rungta and his companions living in a luxurious bungalow on a private island in Sri Lanka is Hindustani, but seeing their lifestyle, it seems like seeing a family of a drug cartel in Mexico. Such scenes have been seen in foreign films and series. The way the blueprint of Shailendra Rungta’s character would have been drawn on paper, he could not get on the screen. Roongta is in the business of shipping, mining, and petrochemicals. He also does social service, but this is just a cover. His real business is illegal weapons. He runs this business through fake companies.
He is very powerful and the high officials of the government work for him. So, whenever some action is about to happen, Shelly gets to know in advance. Safina’s death was also due to the leaking of information in Dhaka. Anil Kapoor is a cool businessman in this role, but the international kingpin’s swag is missing. The intensity that was needed for this character is not visible till four episodes. It is expected that in the coming episodes, this character of Anil will take a turn and surprise the audience. The same is the case with Aditya Roy Kapur‘s character Shaan Sengupta. As dashing as he is in the role of night manager, he could not create that much effect as a spy. This character is also yet to be fully revealed. The parts of the second part of the series shown at the end of the fourth episode show some new layers of Shaan’s character being revealed. However, that would have to wait.
The supporting star cast includes Tilottama Shome Janchi as RAW officer Lipika. The way his character is shown to be crazy about his work, Tilottama has lived it right. Shashwat Chatterjee has tried his best in the role of BJ, the colorful and suspicious Brij Pal, Rungta’s right hand, but it is awkward to see him playing the gay side of the character. In some scenes, his style seems dramatic. Ravi Behl has returned to acting after years. His character in the series is that of Roongta’s partner. However, not much has come of Ravi’s share. Shobhita Dhulipala is fine as Shailendra Rungta i.e. Shelly’s girlfriend. He has successfully brought out the sensuousness of this character. The character has a past, which will be revealed in the coming episodes. This problem often occurs with adapted series.
The DNA of the web series The Night Manager is such that every country, culture, and politics can be coated in it. Sridhar Raghavan, who wrote the screenplay of the series, has wonderfully done this work. This story, which started in Bangladesh, revolves around the country. Its other end is tied in Delhi. Its dialogue writers Akshay Ghildiyal and Shantanu Srivastava have also worked hard to make this story of arms smuggling indigenous on the pretext of a fertilizer factory. From above, this series looks like an action thriller, but its undercurrent is drama and suspense. And, this specialty of its story, which opens slowly layer by layer, keeps the desire to see it till the end. In other countries, the entire story of the series was shown together. Here Hotstar’s Hukmaran has divided into two parts. After showing the story of the first three episodes of the original series in four episodes in Hindi, the series wraps up. The rest of the episodes will now come in the summer. Realization happens on such occasions that seeing the cover of a novel, you start reading it and in the middle someone tears half the book and keeps it with you.
Well, if you look at the tone of the four episodes of the first season, then the balloons of Ishq and Mohabbat have also burst into it. Anil Kapoor plays an international arms smuggler whose pulse runs on debt. The prettiest girl he ever saw at a beauty pageant is now his mistress. He is divorced from his wife. But he calls the son to him when he is discharged. And, it is this son who gives the night manager this opportunity to break into this fort. The Night Manager isn’t just the Night Manager anymore. He has become a detective. He has also become a part of RAW’s investigation. And, to do all this, the writers of the series keep reminding him again and again of the incident in Bangladesh, which happens due to the information he sent to Delhi coming back to Dhaka. And, during all this, Anil Kapoor‘s attitude and gestures all remind Brijnath of the film ‘Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol’ released 12 years ago.
And, in the web series The Night Manager, Aditya Roy Kapur is playing the role of the Night Manager. His faith does not shake even after seeing the ultimate beauty in a bikini on the beach. The past belongs to his army, the present belongs to his revenge and what will be his future will be known in June. The stature of Aditya Roy Kapur is really like that of a night manager. His physique is also perfect for the character. But when compared to Tom Hiddleston’s performance for the same character in the original series, his performance looks pretty weak. Apart from stopping the series in half, the thing that strikes me while watching this series is Aditya’s acting. It is also worth noting here that this role has been discussed for a long time before being offered to Hrithik Roshan and Aditya Roy Kapur will be able to fulfill the lack of an artist like Hrithik Roshan. This thing does not look right at the level of thinking. However, it would be called cleverness of the direction that by repeatedly bringing Shashwat Chatterjee in the frame with Aditya, the makers do not let the attention of the audience go towards this shortcoming.
The real heartbeat of the series is its two female lead characters played by Sobhita Dhulipala and Tilottama Shome. Shobhita’s performance in the role of Param Sundari is perfect in her place. His body is displayed exactly where it is needed. He is unaware of the real identity of an international businessman. His job is to smile at the welcome and lay down when needed. In private, she cries after talking to someone and she is also worried that this cry should not come in front of the world. On the other hand, Tilottama’s character is as transparent as water. His spontaneity knocks his seniors in the department but there are also helpers of this intelligence officer who is ready to sacrifice his life for the country. The scene of her talking to her night manager in the fish market on the pretext has become very effective and when she runs towards the binoculars while holding the unborn child, the viewer’s heart comes to her mouth.
The Night Manager Part 1 Review: The Last Words
The web series The Night Manager is a web series shot at very picturesque locations. Its look and feel are international. The music of the series is perfect to set the pulse rate of the audience. The grip of direction is complete even in editing. Sandeep Modi and Priyanka Ghosh have made a decent series together. In the rush to match the screenplay scene by scene, the show takes away the local milieu and atmosphere it needs, and the final product starts to feel fake. These four episodes of The Night Manager, in a way, lay the foundation for the final part. Therefore, the right decision for the show will be taken only after the release of the second part, in which more thrill, adventure, and action scenes will be seen.
