General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20265 min read

Poison 2

Poison 2 is an Indian Hindi-language crime thriller web series, the second season of the ZEE5 original Poison (2019), directed by Vishal Pandya and starring Aftab Shivdasani, Raai Laxmi, Pooja Chopra, Rahul Dev, Vin Rana, and Zain Imam. It premiered on ZEE5 on 16 October 2020 as an 11-episode season, and it marks the digital debut of lead actors Aftab Shivdasani and Raai Laxmi.¹^•²

Key fact	Detail
Platform and premiere	ZEE5, 16 October 2020, all 11 episodes released together¹
Format	11 episodes of roughly 30 minutes each²
Director and writer	Directed by Vishal Pandya; written by Rehan Khan, with additional screenplay by Heena Kohli Khan and Ali Balsania¹
Lead cast	Aftab Shivdasani as Aditya Singh Rathore, Raai Laxmi as Sara, Vin Rana as Oscar, Zain Imam as Harsh, Pooja Chopra as Isha Khanna³
Genre and languages	Crime thriller; audio in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam⁴
Production	Panorama Entertainment & Bombay Media Works; cinematography by Ravi Walia⁵
Connection to season 1	Continues from where Poison (2019) ended; characters Pawan, Nandu, and Rani reappear¹

Spoilers

Premise

The story is set around horse racing in Goa. Sara (Raai Laxmi), her husband Harsh (Zain Imam), and her brother Oscar (Vin Rana) form the JOSH team, a racing outfit that wins local races by any means, from bribing jockeys to drugging horses, and aims to take control of a racecourse at an upcoming auction.¹^•⁶ When a new jockey and businessman, Aditya Singh Rathore (Aftab Shivdasani), defeats the JOSH team in an important race and then offers Sara a partnership deal that could win her the racecourse, Harsh and Oscar distrust his intentions.¹^•⁷

Aditya's true identity drives the plot. He is Jaiveer, a man framed by his own friends for a robbery, sent to jail, and left with his family destroyed; on release he adopts the identity of Aditya and plots revenge on the JOSH team.⁸ Oscar's investigation uncovers a central mystery: records show Aditya was killed four years earlier by the drug lord Tony (Taher Shabbir), raising the question of who is now living under his name.⁷ A parallel thread follows IPS officer Isha Khanna (Pooja Chopra), who reopens the five-year-old Diamond Robbery case and has a personal interest in the matter involving Jaiveer.⁴^•⁹

Cast and characters

The season pairs a new lead cast with returning characters from the first season. Aftab Shivdasani described his character as very gray, a man who is both the villain-seeming figure and the hero of the story, with full control over the game and unpredictable behavior.¹⁰^•¹¹

Aftab Shivdasani as Aditya Singh Rathore, also Jaiveer³
Raai Laxmi as Sara Matthews Oberoi, owner of a racecourse and one of Aditya's former friends now on his revenge list³^•⁸
Vin Rana as Oscar Matthews, Sara's brother³
Zain Imam as Harshvardhan Oberoi, Sara's husband³
Pooja Chopra as Isha Khanna, an upright police officer who works by the rules while others manipulate³^•⁹
Rahul Dev as Sikander Malik, in a cameo appearance the ZEE5 review singled out as standing out from the rest³^•¹
Taher Shabbir as Tony Secuira, the drug lord tied to Aditya's past³^•⁷
Asmita Sood as Hina Malik³
Gaurav Sharma as Pawan, Sakshi Pradhan as Rani, and Faizal Rashid as Nandu, the returning characters who link the two seasons³^•¹⁰

Production and release

The series was produced under the banners Panorama Entertainment and Bombay Media Works, with Suzanna Ghai, Hemant Ruprell, Ranjeet Thakur as producers and Vinayak Jain and Amit Bhargava as co-producers; Ravi Walia handled cinematography and Manish More edited the series.⁵^•¹ The cast said the shoot took almost 10 months.¹⁰

The season was originally expected in April 2020 but was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, with a poster released in February 2020 and the trailer dropping 10 days before the October premiere.¹²^•⁶ All 11 episodes became available on ZEE5 on 16 October 2020, with audio versions in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam.⁴ For Aftab Shivdasani, who had spent 21 years in the Hindi film industry mostly in comedy and romantic roles, the series was his first web project and a first substantial step into a darker character.¹¹

Reception

Reviews were mixed. The ZEE5 News review called it an interesting one-time watch, praising the decision to give every character an individual storyline that culminates in a thrilling climax, while noting that the plotline may feel predictable to viewers familiar with "masala movies" and that Pooja Chopra seemed miscast as a police officer.¹ India Today praised the cast, describing Aftab Shivdasani's portrayal of a dangerous, enigmatic businessman as terrific and Raai Laxmi as standing out as the ambitious, manipulative Sara.⁷ The Telugu outlet 123telugu rated the series 3 out of 5, crediting better drama and visuals than the first season and well-executed twists, but finding the emotional quotient dull and some logic strained.¹³ Leisurebyte was negative, judging the 11-episode format unnecessary for a story that could have been a film, with predictable twists and clichéd dialogue.² Asmita Sood said the response after the Friday premiere was strong, with viewers highlighting the twists and turns.¹⁴

References

Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Unscripted, reality, and web-native series › Web-native and streaming-original series › Indian and South Asian web series › Premiered 2003 to 2020

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026

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