The second season of Netflix's pulp crime thriller Yeh Kaali Kaali Ankhein was released on the streaming platform last Friday. The show deals with a morally grey man trying to evade a woman obsessed with him. It shows the complexities of love, obsession, and murder. In an exclusive chat with HT, director Sidharth Sengupta spoke about how he went about charting those emotions and why the show does not glorify obsession.

On humanising Purva in season 2

Yeh Kaali Kaali Ankhein stars Tahir Raj Bhasin as Vikrant. In season one, Vikrant is forced to marry Purva (Anchal G Singh) even though he loves Shikha (Shweta Tripathi). The second season follows Purva as she is abducted by the hitman Vikrant hired to kill her. Sengupta says the second season was meant to humanise Purva more. "In season one, we saw every character through Vikrant's eyes. Hence, Purva looked the way she was. But what if she wasn't like that? Ultimately, it's not a question of who is morally right or wrong. But the end of the story is decided when you touch the finishing line, not in between. So, that's the whole idea. But I need to show that there was a human side to her," he explains.

However, the director agrees that Vikrant's feeling of being trapped is genuine. He says, "When any emotion is pure and honest, it becomes more dangerous. Purva is a more pure person. Hence, this thing makes it more dangerous for him (Vikrant)."

Humanising a character that has been built up as an antagonist has its share of challenges. But they increase in this story as the character is an obsessive lover, and humanising them raises the risk of glorifying that obsession in a country infamous for that. Sengupta argues, "Till now, we have seen Purva through Vikrant's eyes. But is there more to it? Could she be anybody else? She asked him immediately if there was someone else, and he said no. But she persisted, which, from Vikrant's eyes, seemed obsessive. But she has given him chances. So there is a balance. For me, it's love; it's a great emotion to explore."

The show's real villain

The filmmaker argues that Vikrant feels trapped because of the intensity of Purva's love, which is the real villain. "The greater the want of a character is, in my opinion, the more difficult it becomes for the other character, another person. Till the time Tom is obsessed about chasing Jerry, that mouse has to run to save his life. It's the same here," he says, signing off.

Yeh Kaali Kaali Ankhein also stars Gurmeet Chouhdary and Saurabh Shukla. All episodes of season 2 are currently streaming on Netflix.

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