‘Jamtara: Sabka Number Ayega’ is a fictional drama created and directed by Soumendra Padhi and written by Trishant Srivastava. But the characters and incidents are inspired by real life scammers who trick people by making up profiles on dating websites and apps, calling their targets, or impersonating reputable businesses to get their personal information, including passwords and credit card numbers.
While the first season of the Hindi-language series introduced the audience to a group of youngsters in Jamtara, Jharkhand, who learnt to scam people through their phones and then quickly became an organized group, the second season takes the scamming to the next level. The scammers have become smarter, bolder and the numbers are huge. Also, politics and cybercrime intertwine in the second episode, giving the audience more ruses to follow. Each episode of the series ends in a hook, tempting the audience to click on the next episode. With a gifted cast and a tightly knit screenplay, director Padhi manages to make each hour-long episode of the series gripping and entertaining. Start with something new and end it on a cliffhanger—this ploy seems to work beautifully for the team. However, the screenplay falters a bit in parts where Brajesh and Gangadevi’s rivalry is shown. In the first season, ‘Jamtara’ was purely about youth in cybercrime and the social engineering of the place. A lot of focus on political rivalry in the second season kind of takes away the attention from the main theme of the series. Some parts feel stretched and exaggerated just because the makers had to try and convince the audience of where Jamtara is heading. Also, I feel the climax in the final episode does not get enough build-up after the promising previous episode. Yet, with the entire cast pulling off stellar performances, all of Jamtara’s shortcomings can be overlooked as it is a tight package of some fine writing and execution. Despite having a group of comparatively unknown faces to work with, the makers have given recognizable identities to each of the actors and their characters. Sial, who portrays the dishonest, vicious, and selfish politician Brajesh, deserves a special mention here. His character is not unique to the screen, but the way he performs it and gives it his own touch makes him memorable. This season also features some amount of symbolism within the series. For instance, there’s a massive banyan tree covered with cell phones which are tied to it by local scammers who have grown to believe they are invincible and nobody can reach them. Also, there is a duo who narrates what’s happening in Jamtara in deeply philosophical prose and also predicts impending doom and destruction, much like Shakespearean characters. Who should watch it? If you liked the first season of ‘Jamtara’, you will definitely love the second too. Although the episodes get lengthier and heavier in content, the second season carries with it the freshness and goodness of the first. The series is full of ruses and surprises, and is bound to keep you entertained. Anyone who loves crime and suspense thrillers will definitely enjoy Jamtara. Rating: 4 stars Genre: Crime drama Director: Soumendra Padhi Actors: Monika Panwar, Amit Sial, Sparsh Shrivastav, Anshumaan Pushkar Run time: 8hrs (approx.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DQ_lEmt0aM
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