Mumbai, India, Sept 26: What happens when 15 celebrities enter a Tower where having more money does not necessarily mean having more power? MX Original Rise and Fall Season 2 wasted no time answering that question, as the opening price-pool game forced contestants to choose between money, alliances and survival. Setting the tone for the game, host Virender Sehwag said, “Duniya mein logo ko dukh tab nahi hota jab unke paas kam hota hai, asli dukh tab hota hai jab dusre ke paas zyaada hota hai. Apne fall se zyaada dusro ka rise chubhta hai.” And soon enough, the Tower began proving his point.
The first twist came with the contestants’ starting values. Five received ₹4 lakh, five received ₹3.5 lakh and five received ₹75,000 but the money alone could not decide who would rise. Two contestants could combine their amounts to overpower the third, sending themselves to the Penthouse and their opponent to the Basement. As Sehwag put it, “Ab Aapne mujhe batting katke toh bahot dekha hai par ab maine feki aap logo ke liye googly.” he also adds,” Main bahot partnership ki hai Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid aur Sorabh Ganguly ke saath toh ab aap partnership banaye ke do kaun honge”.The first to face the price-pool game were Karan Patel, Niharika Tiwari and Siwet Tomar. Karan entered first, and Sehwag asked him, “aapko social media ke stars hai unse itni takleef kyu hai”, to which Karan responded, “Social media pe aane ke baad raato raat banda celebrity bann jaata hai jaha humne itne saal lagaye mehnat karke makam tak pahochne ke liye waha aap ek raat mein ban jaoge toh nainsafi hai na”. His mindset was clear, followers khareede jaa sakte hai, fans nahi. Niharika then entered, followed by Siwet Tomar, bringing their former equation straight into the game. With Siwet holding ₹3.5 lakh, Karan ₹75,000 and Niharika ₹4 lakh, both Siwet and Niharika pitched to Karan, but he ultimately chose to join forces with Siwet. The two headed to the Penthouse, leaving Niharika in the Basement after she first got a glimpse of the luxury she had just missed.But the game was only getting started. Shehzad Poonawalla, Manish Kashyap and Raj Grover were next, and this time, an instant brotherhood changed the equation. With ₹4 lakh, ₹3.5 lakh and ₹75,000 respectively, the choice was between money and the bond they had just formed. Manish and Shehzad chose to back each other, combining their amounts to secure the Penthouse, while Raj was sent to the Basement. But would this new brotherhood hold as the power game gets tougher?Then came Gautam Gulati and Priyanka Chahar Choudhary, but could even their familiar equation survive the Tower? Gautam arrived with his bad-boy charm, while Priyanka came in as the ichhaadhari and queen of hearts. But the dynamic shifted as Kaira Anu entered the mix. With Priyanka at ₹4 lakh, Gautam at ₹3.5 lakh and Kaira at ₹75,000, Gautam and Priyanka chose to join forces, leaving Kaira in the Basement. Yet was this really a fall for Kaira? She made it clear she was ready to rise, even as an old equation with Niharika resurfaced downstairs.While the pitches continued in the Penthouse, Gautam and Raj noticed Manish looking upset and went over to cheer him up. Even after trying to make him laugh, Manish opened up about feeling isolated, revealing, “mein 4 baar jail gaya hu”, before adding, “lekin waha pe bhi mein utna akele mehsoos nahi kiya jitna yaha pe.” When asked what had led to his time in jail, he said, “logo ke liye… mere upar desh ke upar sabse complicated dhara lagaya hai, NSA”, before adding, “Mein pehla aisa individual youtuber hu jiske liye logo ne band kar diya, pura bihar band ho gaya.” What began as an attempt to cheer him up soon turned into a glimpse of the struggles Manish had carried with him into the Tower.
The Tower then welcomed Swara Bhasker, Kajal Raghwani and Anish Bhagat, and once again, the numbers forced a choice. With Swara holding ₹4 lakh, Kajal ₹3.5 lakh and Anish ₹75,000, Swara and Kajal teamed up for the Penthouse, leaving Anish in the Basement. But with the game built entirely on alliances, the bigger question was not who had made it upstairs, how long would these new partnerships actually last?
The final round brought Irina Rudakova and Sara Gurpal into the game before Tej Pratap Yadav joined them, bringing with him a childhood dream of entering the film industry. But before the trio could get down to the numbers, Sara added her own dose of masala when Sehwag asked about her favourite cricketer, revealing that several cricketers had been sliding into her DMs. “munde saare mein dm mein hai,” she said. Sehwag responded, “maine suna hai bahot cricketer hai”, prompting Sara to clarify, “Sir mein aapko mazak nahi kar rahi …I am not taking any names but bahot cricketers message karte hai”. Tej Pratap held ₹4 lakh, Sara ₹3.5 lakh and Irina ₹75,000. When it came down to choosing who would stand together, Tej Pratap and Irina joined forces to secure the Penthouse, leaving Sara to take her place in the Basement.
By the end of the first game, the Tower had already split into its two worlds, with Karan Patel, Siwet Tomar, Shehzad Poonawalla, Manish Kashyap, Gautam Gulati, Priyanka Chahar Choudhary, Swara Bhasker, Kajal Raghwani, Tej Pratap Yadav and Irina Rudakova becoming the Power Rulers, while Niharika Tiwari, Raj Grover, Kaira Anu, Anish Bhagat and Sara Gurpal became the Powerless Workers. But with alliances already taking shape, old equations resurfacing and some contestants learning that having less can sometimes mean having more to prove, will the first alliances hold or will the Tower turn its newest friendships into its first betrayals?
Hosted by Virender Sehwag, Rise and Fall Season 2 streams free, exclusively on Prime Video, with fresh episodes every day at 12 noon.The show is available to audiences through MX Player by Prime Video on the MX Player Android app, as well as across mobile devices, Connected TVs, the Amazon shopping app, Prime Video and Fire TV.