Koi Naam Na Do: Season 2 (Hindi Series)
Ahaan is the person I ended up rooting for here, which is a problem when so much of the season revolves around Kavith’s feelings for somebody else. Both the actor and the character are the sequel’s one bright spot: there’s depth, a sense of proportion, and a practical attitude that the rest of the show badly needs. Watching a decent man get treated as an option to return to whenever the preferred one is unavailable is frustrating, though, and nobody deserves to be taken for granted like that.
For Ahaan, a costume designer working on a film, the trouble begins when he falls for Kavith and pursues him. Kavith is attracted to him too, and a few dates follow. Unfortunately, liking Ahaan doesn’t mean Kavith has made room for him. The man occupying that space is still Anshul, his straight best friend, and Ahaan gradually understands just how hopelessly—and one-sidedly—Kavith loves him. Anyone else will always come second.
The reunion that sets all this in motion happens by accident. Kavith, who is gay, and Anshul cross paths at a resort in Alibaug two years after they went their separate ways. Both are staying for a week. Anshul is there to shoot a movie his girlfriend secured for him, but that relationship has become suffocating: she is intensely possessive, and her insistence on commitment and eventual marriage practically keeps him captive. Kavith, meanwhile, positively lights up at the sight of him. Their old dynamic returns immediately, complete with Kavith’s adoring gaze and a love that plainly hasn’t gone anywhere.
What bothered me was how little distance there is between Kavith’s devotion and his own possessiveness. His behavior toward Anshul repeatedly crosses the boundary of friendship. Being concerned for someone doesn’t give you permission to constantly hover or decide what they ought to do. In Anshul’s place, I would find it honestly alarming. Kavith does have a female friend who calls him out and works hard to bring him back down to earth, and I was pleased to see her doing that. Getting through to this guy, however, is another matter entirely.
His treatment of Ahaan makes him even harder to tolerate. Kavith complains about the shortage of nice men, then meets one, flirts with him, and leaves him waiting in reserve while continuing to organize his life around his straight crush. How does that make sense? Whenever Anshul needs him, Ahaan gets abandoned; whenever Anshul pushes him away, Ahaan becomes worth returning to. Years have passed, yet Kavith seems to have learned absolutely nothing. That absence of growth is painful to watch, and the writing makes him a thoroughly irritating presence this season.
Ahaan is remarkably patient through the repeated disappointments, trying to understand rather than immediately walking away. Eventually, though, Kavith pushes him beyond what he can bear. It takes Anshul to make Kavith understand that someone as good as Ahaan isn’t going to come along again. Kavith finally declares his love and asks Ahaan to move in with him. Introducing a third person who ultimately becomes Kavith’s partner is a perfectly acceptable direction for this sequel; getting there is where so much of the frustration lies.
The first season was only middling for me anyway. A gay man falling for his straight best friend is such a frequently used premise that its possibilities are limited, and I’m still not convinced another season was necessary. This follow-up runs for eight episodes of roughly 35 minutes each and is available on YouTube, but much of its middle feels expendable. There’s no coherent sense of where the story is going, while all the longing and spur-of-the-moment decisions become a tiresome slog.
Then, after bringing Kavith and Ahaan together, the finale hints that Anshul has also begun falling for Kavith somewhere along the way. That last-minute complication did nothing for me. Ahaan alone gives this frustrating sequel something worthwhile, and the makers will need to do considerably better if there’s a third season. (4/10)