Avrodh: The Siege Within Season 2: Death of a conspiracy

An unknown Pakistani has planned a three-pronged attack to hurt India. Twenty-five planes will be made to crash, fake notes circulated, and separatist groups equipped across the country. One thing is clear. The shrewdly hatched plan is not an in-your-face kind of ISI operation.

The mastermind prefers to hide from public view. He has support in the Pakistani establishment – and in India where somebody is following his instructions. Where is the origin of his activity? Who is his Indian agent? The local operator has to be identified soon. How to do it in a country of more than one billion people is a question that needs an answer.

That background, in short, gives rise to Avrodh: The Siege Within Season 2 that has started streaming on SonyLIV. The nine-episode-long web series is based on a chapter titled ‘Just Tell Me When to Begin Sir’ from Shiv Aroor and Rahul Singh’s book, India’s Most Fearless 2.

Directed by Raj Acharya, the story begins with a dramatic episode in Assam. Additional Income Tax Commissioner Pradeep Bhattacharya (Abir Chatterjee), who is also in the army, confiscates a consignment of fake currency notes worth Rs 50 crore. It gradually becomes clear that circulating counterfeit currency is a part of an elaborately painted big picture.

The plot focuses on the urgent need to identify the strands of the conspiracy hatched by a mysterious unknown. It also makes a desperate attempt to justify demonetization, a move planned by the Prime Minister (Dr. Mohan Agashe). Government officials are engaged in discussions with the PM, among them the National Security Advisor Shailesh Malaviya (Neeraj Kabi) and senior bureaucrat Satish Mahadevan (Ananth Mahadevan), who had also featured in the first season.

Bhattacharya has a job to do in the income tax department, but his heart is in the army. When he gets an opportunity to try and unearth a conspiracy, he uses his intelligence and understanding of finance to figure out what is going on. Abir Chatterjee, a good choice for the role, plays his part efficiently without going overboard.

Bhattacharya experiences his share of conflicts with Captain Imtiaz (Vijay Krishna), but the two unite when the former becomes a part of the operation on the ground. Sanjay Suri plays Ehsaan Waziri, a Pakistani academic-turned-terrorist with a sharp mind who wants to hurt India badly. Rajesh Khattar is the Pakistani army chief, and Aahana Kumra is Waziri’s trusted aide Parveena, a local politician in India.

Much happens in the plot. Printers, mobile phones, RDX, fake currency notes and separatist groups are being used to give rise to a tragedy of unprecedented proportions. Viewers, of course, know that nothing of that sort will happen. How it is stopped and what happens to the antagonists get revealed as the plot reaches the climax.

Avrodh’s second season makes for good viewing because of its complex plot and performances of the entire star cast. Find time for it on a weekend.