‘The Night Manager’ Hindi series review: An explosive combination of style and substance

Laced with powerhouse performances, a dose of sharp humour, and languid sensuality, it is the smart treatment of the predictable portions that keep us invested. Marrying style with substance, The Night Manager is one of the few adaptations of international franchises where text and context come together to create a stimulating experience. Adapted by Sridhar Raghavan, the Indian version of David Farr’s acclaimed series that drew from John Le Carre’s novel, The Night Manager hits the ground running as it opens in our eastern neighbourhood of Bangladesh that has been grappling with the forced migration of Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar. Even before we come to the terms with the magnitude of the problem, the action moves to an upscale hotel in Dhaka where a child bride (Arsita Mehta) of an eccentric Bangladeshi tycoon Freddie Rehman is struggling to find a way out amidst the crisis. In Shan Dasgupta (Aditya Roy Kapoor), the strapping manager with a ticking heart, she finds an unlikely ally.

As she blows the whistle on her tormentor, we discover that Rahman is a front for Shailendra Rungta (Anil Kapoor), an arms dealer in the guise of a business magnate with a share in every land that is being cultivated for terror and unrest. The police don’t touch him except for Lipika Saikia (Tillotama Shome), a RAW officer who is not only thorough with her research and analysis, but also knows how to bypass the superiors who are batting for Rungta. She could not stop Rungta in Bangladesh, but a couple of years later Shan gets another opportunity to net the big fish in a Shimla resort. How he infiltrates Rungta’s gang with the support of Saikia constitutes the rest of the four-part first season.

Sridhar, who showed his skill in Pathaan (he was one of the writers), here takes his cues from Carre but adds a lot between the lines to bring the inspiration closer home. Particularly, the way he sets it up in Dhaka ensures that you are sucked into the whirlpool of emotion and intrigue. Eventually, The Night Manager resorts to the tried and trusted ways of an espionage thriller where a soldier finds a reason to return to action, but Sridhar, backed by the blinding scale of the series, ensures that the interest remains alive and kicking.