In the first season of the ZEE5 series Mithya, Hindi professor Juhi Adhikari (Huma Qureshi) was locked in a dangerous battle with student Rhea Rajguru (Avantika Dassani) after she failed her the young woman for plagiarism and branded her a cheat. The entitled daughter of a tea estate owner and college trustee, Rhea became obsessed with seeking vengeance, sometimes with violent results.
It emerged in season one that Juhi and Rhea were half-sisters. Rhea’s vendetta has now become as much about getting back at Juhi as it is about gaining the acceptance of her father, the author Anand Tyagi (Rajit Kapur).
Season one, which came out in 2022, was an adaptation of the British mini-series Cheat (2019). In the absence of a second season of Cheat, the writers of Mithya (Purva Naresh, Nishank Varma with a screenplay by Nisarg Mehta) have created a new set of twisted mind games which aren’t always logical or convincing.
By now, Juhi has gained confidence and overcome her previous ambivalence. Juhi is now a celebrated author, but an accusation of plagiarism by the failed writer Amit Chaudhary (Naveen Kasturia) destroys not just her reputation but her father’s equilibrium too.
As things intensify, Anand is pushed into an abyss. Indraneil Sengupta, Avantika Akerkar, Rushad Rana and Krishna Bisht return in supporting roles.
Rhea continues to be able to get random people to do her bidding. Things simply fall into her lap, like access to IVF records, entry into a home from where she can pick up things, meeting Amit and seamlessly taking over her father’s estate. This is in spite of once having been incarcerated.
Rhea is ruthless and heartless and will use anyone to achieve her goal, which is getting her estranged father’s attention and felling Juhi. As the power play between the women spirals out of control, a body count also starts to build. Even though a new inspector struts around offering piercing looks and asking the right questions, she and the local police seem completely incompetent when it comes to solving any case.
Director Kapil Sharma captures the hill region’s mood and landscape. But even the overuse of overdramatic background music cannot drown out the show’s shaky suspense and uninteresting script.
Over six episodes, Rhea’s relentless schemes, lies and manipulation and Juhi’s reactions and her own need for revenge get crazier and crazier, peaking with a ridiculous scheme in episode four. Dassani’s Rhea, who was intriguing before, is simply villainous and repetitious now.
Qureshi appears to be equally flummoxed by her character’s actions and behaviour, almost going through the beats just to get to the climax. A hanging thread at the end of this season suggests that there may be more drama brewing in Darjeeling.