Pavitra Rishta 2 Review: Everything is same yet different in this Ankita Lokhande, Shaheer Sheikh starrer

The makers of the show have kept the baseline of the story very similar to that of the first season, and have rather made it very crisp and have avoided beating around the bush for its OTT audience. Unlike the 2009 Archana who chose to be a homemaker and take care of her family, the 2021 Archana works as a server in a cafe and contributes towards the financial stability of the house- however, both Archanas are less educated.

In S2, the iconic meet of Archana and Manav is shown in the very first few minutes of the first episode itself, exactly in a similar manner to how the OG Archana and Manav met in S1. Coming to the show's update, Archana, a server at a cafe owned by her sister-in-law Manjusha's brother Ajit, in an attempt to help her drunk colleague, bumps into Manav. Manav who is working as a mechanic at a garage drops them home and is mistaken to be the garage manager by Archana and her family who see him drop her home in a posh car.

A decent and homely Archana is absolutely petrified when the police place an inquiry on her and Ajit after they find some illegal activities happening at the cafe. Satish runs to his fiancee Archana's rescue but it is his mother who assassinates her daughter-in-law's character. Archana's mother, who tries to defend her darling daughter, gets into an ugly fight with Satish's mother that eventually leads to breaking the bond.

Archana's mother promises to get the best groom for her daughter. An anxious Archana leaves the house to calm herself and bumps into Manav amidst a heavy downpour. She realizes that it was him who helped her during heavy rains the same morning by lending him his only umbrella and walking away without giving Archana a chance to thank him. The next 7 episodes purely focus on how Archana and Manav's bond strengthens day by day, bit by bit.  How Savita's greed and lies lead to their marriage falling apart but despite all the odds, Archana and Manav only fall deeper in love.

Their relationship is well established in the series - for instance, the sequence where Archana and Manav get locked in the cafe is very beautifully conceptualized, as it further shows how that is the only time when they get to actually know each other well. Each emotion in that bit is so well portrayed by Ankita and Shaheer. Another shot where Archana and Manav officially separate after signing the marriage annulment papers is pretty emotional.

Apart from Archana and Manav the characters of Manjusha, Archana's Aai, her brother, Archana's fiance Satish and Manav's mother Savita have been well-established. The characters, character traits, storyline, concept almost remain the same as what they were in the earlier season, but they are the small things that played an important factor in S1 that have been changed. For instance, the storyline that was earlier based out of Dombivali has now shifted to Parel, the title track while retaining its lyrics, has changed the music giving a slightly modern touch to it. The sets are pretty shiny and more realistic as compared to Pavitra Rishta, the TV show.

Unlike the TV show wherein Archana and Manav's meeting was shown in the second week of the show launch, this version has the meeting shown in the first episode itself. There was no doubt of how perfectly Ankita Lokhande would fit in as Archana yet again, but audiences had their own doubts in seeing Shaheer Sheikh in place of Sushant Singh Rajput as Manav. But trust me, Shaheer's Introduction shot that focuses primarily on his voice gives you major SSR vibes!

Having said that, Shaheer is an absolute fit as the chivalrous and gentleman Manav in every shot. As an avid follower of the OG Pavitra Rishta, it was pretty difficult to see somebody else and not Sushant opposite Ankita as Manav, but this isn't new as we have earlier seen Hiten Tejwani too fit into the shoes of Manav after SSR quit the show to pursue his Bollywood career in 2012.

Apart from Ankita Lokhande and Usha Nadkarni, almost the entire old cast has been revamped. Suchitra Bandekar has stepped into the 'saree' of Savita Prabhune as Archana's Aai, Abhidhnya Bhave has stepped in as Manjusha in the place of Swati Anand, Randeep Rai has stepped into the shoes of Raj Singh as Sachin. A special mention to the dialogue writer Rita Bhatia for keeping the dialogues crisp and to the point. Also, a special mention to Binod Ghimire for brilliantly creating the BG score. Also, Arpit Mehta, Udit Prajapati, and Mukund S have done a fine job of putting the reprise version of the title track so well. The series is sure to make Pavitra Rishta fans emotional and take a trip down memory lane.

ALSO READ: Pavitra Rishta 2 First Episode Review: Shaheer Sheikh, Ankita Lokhande starrer is an emotional train wreck