‘Breathe: Into the Shadows’ 2 Review: Thriller Still Struggles With Old Faults

(Spoiler alert for Breathe: Into the Shadows season 1)

In the previous season of Breathe: Into the Shadows, the viewers were introduced to Dr Avinash Sabharwal (Abhishek Bachchan) and his wife Abha (Nithya Menen), a chef. After their daughter is kidnapped and the mysterious abductor starts making sinister demands, the story unfolds into a family drama mixed with a thriller. 

To make a mix of such genres possible, plausible, and immersive, the writing must be reasonably iron clad and innovative.

And while the season had a lot working for it, writing wasn’t one of its strengths and that is also true for the new season of Breathe: Into the Shadows.

In the second season, co-written and directed by Mayank Sharma, Dr Avinash escapes from captivity and his alter ‘J’ isn’t as ‘dormant’ as the show would lead you to believe. 

The show also introduces a new adversary, Victor (Naveen Kasturia) who seems to have similar motives to J and an eerily similar modus operandi, if not a little more entrenched in technology. The stakes for the main family remain the same - how far would you go to save the people you love? 

This is a trope that is almost synonymous with family drama cum murder thrillers but it is also a premise that makes it easier to suspend belief. A deeply emotional motivation often helps the audience be more willing to let things go.

Even so, the show does manage to create a decent premise. However, its main downfall is ‘convenience’. Everything is too convenient for a story that is supposedly convoluted. 

Any possible exploration into childhood trauma or dissociative identity disorder (DID) or as the show calls it ‘multiple personality disorder’ is pushed aside just to be used, rather insensitively, to further the plot.

The characters beyond Avinash and Abha all exist in one-dimensional spaces, defined only by their trauma and use to the plot. 

This is a shame since the show boasts of a great and able cast including Amit Sadh (top cop Kabir Sawant), Saiyami Kher (Shirley), and Himika Bose (Rahila Kaul). 

Both Bachchan and Menen play their roles with ease and expertise but are bogged down by shoddy and unbelievable writing. Amit Sadh returns as the ever-broody cop Kabir and makes the rounds of Delhi, perhaps trying to catch a thread that the audience could hold on to. 

All three actors seem to be giving their all to the show, with each emotion coming out as it must and they all deserved a stronger script for their efforts. 

How does Abha, the closest thing the show had to a realistic moral compass, so easily plan and execute a murder, with little to no visible remorse or guilt after the act? Why does the show continue to paint Kabir Sawant's propensity for violence as the means to an end?

To its credit, the cinematography by S Bharatwaj and the impressive editing by Prathamesh Chande do manage to create the atmosphere needed for a story like this. They keep the audience hooked even as the screenplay meanders. 

Breathe: Into the Shadows works only because of the performances but that’s rarely enough to keep a thriller on course.

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