In Mumbai Diaries Season 2, the chief manager of Bombay General Hospital asks for a single minute of respite. He is told, "Sir, we can get you a samosa, or a cold coffee with ice cream, but you can't get a minute without a problem at Bombay General Hospital."
Season 2, set in 2009 during the devastating Mumbai floods, picks up where the previous season left off, with Dr Kaushik Oberoi (a nuanced and powerful performance by Mohit Raina) facing new challenges, including incompetence and more serious charges.
Dr. Oberoi's heavily pregnant wife, Ananya Ghosh (Tina Desai), worries about him. In one early scene, he suddenly freezes during a medical emergency, resulting in death. News of the incident spreads quickly, and 73% of the public believes he is a criminal.
Konkona Sen Sharma delivers a reliably complex performance as Dr. Chitra Das. Her past comes back to haunt her with the arrival of Dr. Saurav Chandra (Parambrata Chattopadhyay, who overdoes the British accent).
Mumbai Diaries juggles a large cast of characters and their individual stories, skillfully feeding information to the audience as needed. Writers Yash Chettija and Persis Sodawaterwala maintain a tight focus, circling the multiple threads of these characters with precision.
The subplot involving news anchor Mansi Hirani, who is forced to report breaking news against her will, is another weak link. Mumbai Diaries Season 2 struggles to balance the individual plot points of its characters with the larger narrative of a hospital struggling to make ends meet.
Mumbai Diaries Season 2 overextends itself, trying to juggle too many storylines at once. The show rarely pauses to breathe, and some of the interpersonal conflicts are drawn out unnecessarily, slowing down the pace of the narrative.