The Night Manager

The Night Manager has all the ingredients for a hit espionage adaptation of a hit novel and an original series. Yet it falls short of the level of the original.

The cast is good with some promising talent. Anil Kapoor as a baddie is a fun prospect to watch. He is cut for such roles. Aditya Roy Kapoor has the charm and persona of a spy. Sobhita Dhulipala plays the damsel in distress to the tee. Saswata Chatterjee is equally clever and conniving. Tilotima Shome is a bright spark. She plays a spy boss inimitably.

The series has good production value considering the way it is mounted by the makers. The writing by Sridhar Raghavan is intriguing. The storytelling by Sandeep Modi needs more urgency and astuteness I feel. Really wish it soars in the second part. Would be such a waste otherwise.

After a long time I found good entertainment mixed with good role plays by the actors especially Anil Kapoor and Sidharth Roy Kapur. Story is intriguing. They should have released atleast 6 episode in first part. Anil Kapoor puts life in his character. That spy agency lady role is too much dramatic it should have been avoided, it somewhat takes away the genuinity of the show. Now eagerly waiting for the second part. Hope it does not end in a conventional way. Senior actors like Anil Kapoor are a charm to watch, hope they continue in future also. I am also impressed by the acting potential of Sidharth.

Despite having Anil Kapoor who shines at a major portion and other versatile actors(not to be mentioned particularly) it's Sridhar raghavan's screenplay and Akshat/Shantanu duo's dialogues that keeps faith on the series.... The interesting part is the visual appeal overall the series handled by Benjamin and Ram Verma makes u glued to the idiot Box... Aditya Roy Kapoor portrays as a night manager at a posh hotel does a brilliant job and his body language shows the mannerism and temperament of an ex-lieutenant showing some responsive act in handling tough roles... Fortunately there are no added cheap thrills or twists and turns as the producers honesty in approaching the original series shows their passion towards the art form.. Overall the season 2 decides the success of the series as of now season 1 is a promising start.

So finally I can review the entire series as the final part is out now.

Based on the British web series by the same name, The Night Manager is about a hotel manager who is recruited as a spy to enter into a dangerous arms dealers space to get info about his business, the reason for his recruitment to some extent being personal as well.

TNM is set on a commercial pitch so don't go in expecting some great level detailing and layers and all. TNM is like a very long yet well edited commercial film that you can just sit back, relax and enjoy .

What i really loved about this series is that it never really deviates from its main plot . Also, the series never stretches because you know the inevitable is about to happen and in part two , it doesn't take more than 3 hours for that to happen. Despite being 7 episodes long, the series is an easy breezy binge watch thanks to the riveting plot.

There's also a mini romantic angle between Shobhita and AKR but that thankfully doesn't interfere too much .

Everyone has done a good job in this series especially special mention to Tilottama Shome and if course our never ever aging Anil Kapoor who shines as the mostly calm yet dangerous Shelly . ARK too has done a good job .

Negatives - A talented actor like Saswata felt wasted in a rather awkward role . Also, i somewhere feel the world of Shelly could have been explored a bit more (if the makers would have thought to stray beyond what the original source material offered).

Overall, a good enjoyable watch. The first part might be a bit slow for a few but it set it up very well for the finale. But I still wish these remakes and adaptations on OTT stop , especially of these British series because recently I watched another adaptation Kafas which too was a British adaptation and then you also have Rudra . C'mon you can make original Indian series and trust me if made well they will work well (See Family man , Mirzapur, Asur and all).

It's been a while since I saw the hollywood version. So without hollywood bias I am writing this.

The original source is very smartly adapted into this Indianized version. Infact, I am impressed how the writers very subtly integrated current affairs into the events of the original source. It is also very well casted. I am loving the understated Aditya Kapoor is bringing to this character. Even Anil Kapoor who is famous for making his characters larger than life and sometimes louder than life (slumdog millionaire) has been keeping it very nuanced and thus adding to the menace. It feels more natural. I am not going to say anything about Shobhita Dhulipala because so far she hasn't been given much to do but the next part looks promising for her. Saswata Chatterjee is terrific as always and brings much needed comic relief in this dark methods. This is the first time I am watching Tilotama Shome and I am really enjoying her performance. I really hope she has a scene of banter with Saswata Chatterjee in next part.

It's so refreshing to hear good dialogues after such a long time. First Farzi and now this series is proof of how dialogues can make or break a scene. Also special mention to the title sequence. I didn't skip intro even once. Production design is top notch. They've really put their money into this. Great work behind the camera too except for a few out of focus sequences.

Where this series isn't working out for me is the pacing. A little too much breathing room is given to some scenes. Editing can be more snappy and the entire setup could've been an episode shorter. Shobita's character could've been given more to do, her backstory could've been explored instead of some other elements. Music is forgettable. But the most unforgivable mistake is marketing. Literally no one knows about this series. Is hotstar not confident about this series?

All that said, I am glad they picked this source and it looks great so far. I'll be watching the next part.