Dev DD Season 2 Review – A Shorter, Crisper Screenplay Would Have Made An Engaging Show

Dev DD Season 2 picks up from where Season 1 left off. Devika, aka Vicky (Asheema Vardaan), returns to her parents’ (Suneel Sinha and Deepika Amin) place in Jaipur from Mumbai, after breaking up with the love of her life, the much older Anurag (Sanjay Suri). To make matters worse, she discovers that Anurag is her best friend Chandni’s (Rashmi Agdekar) estranged father.

Chandni is in a same-sex relationship with Radha (Rumana Molla), which in small time Jaipur is totally taboo. Even as Devika struggles to fight her feelings for Anurag, her schoolmate Paritosh (Aman Uppal) enters her life.

Things get more complicated as Devika fights to get society to accept Chandni and Radha’s relationship. At the same time, there’s a sinister female foeticide scam going on at one of Jaipur’s biggest hospitals, which Devika must uncover with the help of Anurag’s ex, Aditi (Nauheed Cyrusi Contractor).

Dev DD Season 2 is directed by Harsh Dedhia, and written by Nikhil Vyas, Kamayani Vyas and Sumrit Shahi. It is produced by Ekta Kapoor.

Asheema Vardaan is a tad over the top in her role of a badass b***h who doesn’t give a damn about society. A little toning down would have served her better in delivering a memorable performance. Loud and screechy is not bold and badass, for heaven’s sake.

Sanjay Suri is the star of the show. He is refined, restrained and oozes sophistication, conveying a lot in very little. It’s good to have to Nauheed Cyrusi Contractor back on screen. She pulls off her role efficiently. Rashmi Adgekar and Rumana Molla put in great performances as two girls in love, grappling with societal taboos.

Suneel Sinha is a delight to watch as Devika’s progressive father. Deepika Amin is as good in her role as an emotional though understanding mother.

Aman Uppal needs to learn a thing or two about delivery of dialogue. He simply garbles his lines in the first few episodes, though he does improve in the later episodes. His performance too leaves a lot to be desired.

Dev DD Season 2 suffers from the long-winded storytelling syndrome. A shorter, crisper screenplay would have done the show a world of good, instead of the overlong, overstuffed plot it is now. Several subplots are absolutely dispensable and inessential to the storyline and should have been totally done away with. For example, the Mamaji saga, the Andy caper, the Awasthi escapade – totally redundant and totally unnecessary.

The story writers should have been merciless in chopping off the aforementioned subplots, which do nothing for the story, but cause it to maunder and meander into tediousness. Not to say, they are inane and pointless.

Hence, despite short episodes of 16-18 minutes each, and loads of funny, humorous, poignant moments in the narrative, the series feels too long and bloated. 17 episodes is also a bit much in today’s age of short attention spans and fickle tastes.

That said, Dev DD Season 2 is infused with a refreshing irreverence that entertains and engages. As Devika goes about smashing societal norms, the narrative simmers with an undercurrent of fun at all times. Which in turn rubs off on the viewer. Imagine how impactful a shorter, sharper script would have been.

The music in Dev DD Season 2 is upbeat, but not of too much consequence. The title music is cheery and bracing.

Director of Photography Shreya Gupta has done a good job capturing the sights and sounds of Jaipur.

Some of the performances

The undercurrent of fun

Too long-winding, convoluted and stretched

Needless subplots that were better off getting chopped

Loud, over the top lead