After the reviews of Mumbai Diaries’ first season poured in, showrunner-creator Nikkhil Advani sat with Aparna Purohit, head of India originals, Amazon Prime Video, and meticulously went through the feedback. The objective was simple: figure out what had worked, what hadn’t and what needed to be done going forward. The result is the Mohit Raina and Konkona Sen Sharma-led second season that revisits the 2005 Mumbai floods. Advani begins, “We found out the term 26/11 [on which the first season was centred] was triggering for people. It [was a subject] many people didn’t want to revisit. Plus, there weren’t enough cliffhangers. But what really worked was that the show was a well-put together ensemble [drama]. Every character had stayed with the audience. The production design, medical jargon, and [treatment] worked.”

Nikkhil Advani