Breathe - Into the shadows: Shows a lot of promise but fails to live up to it

How far can a person go to save one's family - a theme which has been explored multiple times by various movies and series in the past. The most recent account of this was in Aarya where a mother does everything in her power to protect her family. Breathe: Into the shadows continues this theme from Breathe, the first series of this franchise, which was released in 2018. Apart from this, there is nothing common between both series as far as the story is concerned.

With so much content on this theme already out there, does Breathe: Into the shadows bring anything new to the table? I'm afraid, the answer for me is no.

Directed by Mayank Sharma (same as the first part), Breathe: Into the shadows, is streaming on Amazon Prime. It stars Abhishek Bachchan (Dr. Avinash Sabarwal) as a psychiatrist whose 6-year old daughter - Siya - gets kidnapped. As ransom, the kidnapper asks him to kill people in exchange for his daughter. What follows is a thriller where Abhishek Bachchan's character plans and executes these murders and Amit Sadh, playing Inspector Kabir who is in charge of this case, tries to find the killer.

Casting Abhishek Bachchan could have been a smart choice. His box office record (or rather the lack of it) aside, he has proven in the past that he is a good performer given a certain kind of role. He brings in a perfect mix of being well known as well as adding a freshness to the cast, with him not being on screen for more than a year now. He rarely puts a foot wrong but at the same time doesn't take the character to its next level. I guess, being a director’s actor, Abhishek Bachchan remained true to the script.

The screenplay and editing could have been tighter. At 12 episodes, the series feels bloated. Some of the backstory behind the motivation of the kidnapper seems unnecessarily long. However, unlike the format adopted by some of the other shows, the backstory isn't depicted in one isolated episode at the expense of the main story's progress. Instead, it is shown in parallel to current day events, with the arc of the kidnapper being developed over multiple episodes. This gives a stop start feel to the developments happening in the present day. The dialogues are uninspiring and the background music is repetitive and dull.

The story remains engaging in the first half until the big reveal happens midway. Post that, episodes slog towards a predictable end. Coincidences and difficult to believe developments help the characters but hamper the credibility of the plot. Also, the plot reveal may come as a surprise to few of the viewers but it isn’t anything we haven’t seen before.

Amit Sadh, as Inspector Kabir, is efficient in his performance. However, his character remains sidelined for most part of the show until the last few episodes. He plays a hot-headed inspector who is back from a suspension and prison due to an accident in the previous case. Nithya Menon plays Abha, the kidnapped daughter's mother, performs really well. Her emotional struggle and frustration comes through well.

A serial killer getting a psychiatrist to murder people for him and the psychiatrist in turn assisting the cops to catch him – this is the plot the show promised us. It had lots going in its favor to begin with until it falters. We have seen some brilliant movies and tv shows on related concepts from around the world and India. With global content available alongside Indian shows on OTT platforms, comparing them is inevitable. And, thus, the standards we need to hold Breathe: Into the shadows against are very high. Sadly, it fails to live up to them.

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