Shantaram (Season 1), Episode 11: Things are falling apart. The penultimate episode is short and doesn’t pull any punches, moving with a purpose from beginning to end. The arcs of all the characters are a step away from their apotheosis. There’s a reckless abandon to the simplistic fashion in which ‘Shantaram’ depicts police brutality and corruption, making it seem like a ’90s Bollywood crime film all too often. Beyond everything else, ‘Banquet of Consequences’ puts to the test all the bonds Lin has made in Bombay.
Shantaram (Season 1), Episode 11 “Banquet of Consequences” Plot
Lin returns to Sagar Wada, dejected and disappointed at how he’s been played. Parvati admonishes Prabhu for getting involved in Lin’s trouble with gangsters, making him swear not to risk their future again. Madame Zhou now knows about the story Karla has given to Kavita m, so she decides to inform Walid Shah about it, feeling betrayed by Khader, whom she believes to be instrumental to the exposé. Khader knows about Karla’s move though he thinks it’s him that Karla has exposed. When Karla reveals what she’s done and why and that she won’t retract the story, Khader is outraged at her gall, reminding her that the war between him and Walid that she has just started will get men like Abdullah killed. Kavita informs Minister Pandey about the story she is going to run, petrifying him. Didier’s source for fake passports delays the one he is getting for Lin, and just as he receives this information, Chavan Sharma arrests him.
Lin expresses his regret to Prabhu about not returning to Sagar Wada with him and trusting the wrong people all along. The following morning, when he joins the men digging the tunnel for the water supply, Abdullah arrives in Sagar Wada to take him to Khader. Lin tells him that he no longer trusts them, despite Abdullah asserting that they’ll always be brothers. He still goes to Khader’s place, where the latter informs him that he never asked Karla to lead him on. Then, he tells Lin that he wants him to convince Karla to pull the Walid story, as it’s in order to save him that she put everything and everyone at risk in the first place. Lin refuses, but Khader shows him that he has his new passport since he controls the black passport market. For Lin, this blackmail is a new low that Khader has fallen to, and he still refuses, stating that he’ll find a way without the passport. Zhou informs Walid about the story that is soon going to be published about him. Walid realizes that it gives him the opportunity to wipe Khader out for good.
Lin goes to Karla’s place and asks her to stop the Walid story from getting published. He isn’t doing this because of Khader’s blackmail but because he doesn’t want Karla to be in danger. Lin tells her that all he wanted was simply to be with her. To Lin’s dismay, Karla implies that she won’t get rid of the story, so Lin should stay and that she is beyond saving anyway, so she’s leaving. A dejected Lin leaves. After Nightingale apologizes to Chavan, the former is taken to meet Didier. Chavan has found out that Lin bailed Didier out and hence is the right person to know Lin’s whereabouts. Didier refuses to give Lin up, despite the threat of being returned to prison, but just when things get nasty, another police officer informs Nightingale and Chavan about Lin’s stay at Sagar Wada. Since putting a team together to properly arrest Lin will take some time, they decide to release Didier and have him followed in the meantime.
Didier notices that he is being followed but escapes and runs to Sagar Wada to inform Lin about what has transpired. Walid begins his war against Khader. Minister Pandey gets brutally beaten up just as he’s about to escape. Qasim is attacked too. An attempt on Khader’s life fails to owe to Abdullah’s swiftness. When Lin finds out from Didier about Nightingale being in Bombay, he instantly tries to leave, despite lacking a passport, but on seeing a lethally injured Qasim, he delays his escape. At the office of Bombay National, Kavita and Nishant work on ensuring that all the evidence and testimonies they have are ironclad. Despite the danger, the story will put her in, Kavita refuses to back out. Qasim’s condition is too delicate for Lin to leave him, especially since he suspects him of having a hematoma.
Shantaram (Season 1), Episode 11 Ending Explained
At Karla’s place, Modena arrives to take Lisa with him, along with Karla. Unbeknownst to him, Maurizio and Zhou’s men have been keeping a watch at Karla’s place. Modena tells them the money is hidden away at a safe place where they can collect it on the way out of the city. Lisa asks Karla to get Lin along with them. Just at this moment, Maurizio barges into the apartment. Failing to find the money in any of the bags, he threatens to kill Lisa lest Modena tells him where he’s hidden the money. But before he can, Maurizio shoots him and leaves him to die, taking Lisa and Karla with him.
At Sagar Wada, Chavan and Nightingale arrive with a team of police officers to arrest Lin. On getting wind of this, Qasim is moved back to his tent from Lin’s, where Lin will perform a high-risk surgery on him while Prabhu is to buy him time. Lin successfully gets rid of Qasim’s clot, while Prabhu gets violently beaten up for refusing to give up Lin’s location. Just then, Ravi tells Nightingale that Lin is at Qasim’s, stating that he wants him punished. Just as Lin is about to escape, he and Nightingale meet each other face to face. Lin makes a run for his life across Sagar Wada while being chased by a hoard of policemen. Just as he gets out on the road, Prabhu picks him up in his taxi to aid him in escaping while his jeep’s punctured tire slows down Nightingale.
