When Puncch Beat was debuted in 2019, no one would have thought of it to become one of the popular and loved web series of India. Season one was strongly inspired by Karan Johar's Student of the Year, yes if you try to align the characters of the series corresponding to that of the film, what you will see here is Ranbir is what Rohan was, a champion and the popular boy of the school, Rahat is what Abhimanyu was, a boy full of dreams and Dinky with Shanaya with whom the two boys fall for and yes, Padmini will remind you of Tanya, a cold bi**h.
If you remember the season one was more of drama, fun, and sex that we constantly see happening with all those posh people and their kids with glimmering cars and houses, where almost every central student's parents are trustees of the school, then this season keeping the fun intact diverts from the SOTY track into Riverdale, yes it's a murder mystery now and every other show and movies are trying to opt this trope to carrying on with their characters, but let me tell you Puncch Beat this time is hella entertaining and darker and is so much fun and big in canvas.
I hope you remember where season one ended, the deadly fight between Ranbir (Siddharth Sharma) and Rahat (Priyank Sharma) was halted and thanks to Dinki (Harshita Gaur) who attacked Ranbir with a chair as Ranbir is the reason Aditi (Sindhuja Turlapati) is pregnant and consumed poison. Now season two starts with showing that someone has died, I'll not say if it's Rahat or Ranbir. It's a mystery who has died and who's the killer, that's also a mystery. Now investigating officer Vishnu (Anuj Chowdhary) is trying to get to the root of the case to solve it and Maya (Niki Aneja) has also been replaced by Mallika (Poppy Jabbal), the new discipline in charge of the school.
The story jumps between the timeline of "60 days before the day he was killed" to the present to give a clear picture as to what happened. Who was killed, was it Rahat or Ranbir. And who's the killer? Now from season one, it is evident that someone is trying to get revenge or trying to rid of his mistakes and past. But as Mallika says in one scene, "Believe me, these privileged students and their trustee families. No one is pure", it could be anyone. So after watching all the 13 episodes that run for 5 hours in total, you will get the answers to what you will be seeking after entering season two.
The story is by Suparn Verma and the additional story and screenplay and dialogues are by Sumrit Shahi and even after 2 years, the dynamics between the actors that we know from season one is beautifully intact and that's a plus point. Even if Season two feels like more of Riverdale or 13 Reasons Why S3, but it's the drama and the mystery that builds this season and makes it more interesting to sit through. Yes, it kinda darker than season one, but it doesn't mean that there is no fun in this installment.
Padmini (Khushi Joshi) this time comes closer to Rahat to make Ranbir feel jealous who spends most of the time with a newbie in the school, rough and tough Meesha (Samyukta Hegde) who makes Ranbir a drug addict by giving him performance-enhancing drugs so that he could prove himself a champion to his unforgiving father Rajbir Chaudhary (Samir Soni). This time Rajbir is also quite insecure seeing Maya's closeness with a new trustee member Vikrant (Shataf Figar).
So yeah jealousy plays a crucial role this time and so finally Padmini realizes that she actually loves Rahat. Even in one scene when Rahat compliments that her dollhouse is beautiful, Padmini becomes emotional as Ranbir never did pay attention to Padmini like Rahat. Rahat and Padmini's moments are really sweet and cute and very enjoyable and so I could say this about Rahat and Rajbir's scenes when they team up in the last episodes. The scene where they're having dinner and both are picking out onions from their roll is so funny and equally emotional as seeing their bitter relationship finally concluding with sweetness is heartwarming.
Adeesh's (Nikhil Bhambri) and his teacher Miss Bansuri's (Mrinmayi Kolwalker) are hilarious together but in the end, their relationship has been given quite a thoughtful climax. Puncch Beat is not only about friendship and boxing but also about parents and children and it shows why parents shouldn't burden their kids with dreams and expectations and it shows the repercussions too. Puncch Beat season 2 is all about toxic parental expectations. And it highlights that too.
Priyank Sharma is such a fine actor. He impresses playing Rahat, a shy, soft-spoken and quiet guy with perfection and I hope after this he gets what's best for him. Siddharth Sharma as Ranbir, the spoilt rich kid also shines. Khushi Joshi as Padmini Arora is weak in emotional scenes and the same for Sindhuja Turlapati who plays Aditi. Niki Aneja Walia as Maya is excellent, be it playing a mother or a school principal, Niki Aneja never fails to impress.
Samir Soni as Rajbir Chaudhary is very over the top and Nikhil Bhambri as Adhish is so painfully bad, that he's entertaining. Harshita Gaur sadly doesn't get much screentime this season but Kajol Tyagi as Lara, Mrinmai Kolwalkar as Bansuri, Poppy Jabbal as Mallika, or Anuj Chawdhury as Vishnu all have done a fine job. The cinematography by Jay Charola is absolutely amazing. The show looks stunning, the big corridors and halls of school or the sceneries of Dehradun are beautifully captured. The dance or the boxing sequences, everything is perfectly shot and looks great like any international Netflix show.
The production design by Rahul Kurup and Prem Prakash also play a big role in making this show look stunning and so grand. The title song by Bharatt and Saurabh is groovy and enjoyable and the background music is refreshing. But the dubbing is quite awful here and there and completely out of sync. Sometimes what's the actors are saying it's too hard to get and you have to pay attention to the subtitles and that's bad.
Overall a well-made show but Puncch Beat only doesn't work with the tone, sometimes it serious and snap!! It's comic. The fight sequences could have been slickly choreographed as boxing is the heart of the show and the punches look so fake. That's disappointing. But if you're looking for a time-killing show, this is it. Stream it, the actors are their perfect shape and form and delivers great fun but at its core, it is trying to say something and it's been highlighted in the series. Hilarious moments and some heartwarming scenes make up a fine season 2. It was so nice to see finally the batch of 2021 graduating. But we'll wait for new faces as Maya says "To new beginnings until new batch returns".
Rating:- 3/5
Now streaming on ALT Balaji.
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