Let’s begin by addressing the elephant in the room. ‘The Night Manager’ as is known by now is a Hindi adaptation of multiple award-winning English series of the same name. It is not a frame-to-frame remake of the original which was based on an eponymous novel by John le Carré. It is a faithful remake that beautifully transforms itself to Indian tastes, sensibilities, and socio-economic and political conditions.
Hence, the story unfolds against the backdrop of the Rohingya crisis unfolding in Bangladesh where we meet the hero of our story who is working as a night manager in a hotel. Shaan Sengupta, played by Aditya Roy Kapur, is a former Navy officer who is now content working in the hospitality industry. Circumstances force him to grass up against an arms dealer which ultimately leads to the murder of a young whistle-blower girl. Consumed by the guilt, he is later successfully brainwashed by Lipika Saikia (Tillotama Shome) to work for Indian Intelligence agencies to infiltrate the inner circle of the mastermind of arms smuggling, Shailendra ‘Shelly’ Rungta (Anil Kapoor). And thus begins the journey of the lone wolf vs the merchant of death which unfolds in neighboring Sri Lanka.
The first episode itself makes things pretty clear here. The makers have been so successful in making it engrossing. It gets the look and backdrop right to recreate the thrill, tension, and intricacies required for an espionage drama.
Sophie becomes Safina, Roper becomes Rungta, Jed becomes Kaveri but they have the same impact as the original series had. For some reason, only the first part of the series comprising four episodes has been released with the announcement of the next to follow soon.
Casting Anil Kapoor to play an arms dealer masquerading as a philanthropist businessman is an interesting choice. He does try his best to be as wily as possible. He makes a jhakaas entry and quickly makes audiences realize that he is not the AK they have seen so far. This time he is here to play a much more sinister character and does so with aplomb.
However, the star of the show is Aditya Roy Kapur. First, he looks the part. He certainly has a lean physique and uses it well to portray Shaan Sengupta with an understated resilience. Among the female cast, only Tillotama Shome does leave an impression as a well-intentioned intelligence officer who wants to execute a secret operation on her own. The portrayal of Kaveri as the mistress of Shelly Rungta is too strong. While Elizabeth Debicki had brought out the sensuousness and vulnerability of Jed
The story has been adapted by Shridhar Raghavan and Sandeep Modi. Raghavan has written the screenplay as well while the dialogues are by Akshat Ghildial and Shantanu Srivastav. The series has been directed by Sandeep Modi and Priyanka Ghose. The entire behind-the-camera team deserves the credit for Indianising the show brilliantly which can even come across as a fresh creation for those who haven’t watched the original one.
So, once you decide to check in this creative accommodation on Disney+ Hotstar, do start with its Bond moviesque title montage. It’s well done for sure.
