Review aashram 2

Producer-Director- Prakash Jha

Star Cast-Bobby Deol, Chandan Roy Sanyal, Aditi Pohankar, Tridha Choudhary, Tushar Pandey, Darshan Kumar, Vikram Kochchar,Anupriya Oberoi, Sachin Parekh, Adhyayayn Suman, Parinitaa Seth

Genre- Thriller

Rating-***

Contemporary Satire!

Jyothi Venkatesh

If you have not watched the season One of the web series, let me tell you that it is about a Godman’s evil activities which are criminal and unholy, such as rapes, murders, drugs, vote bank politics and forced male emasculation. The law and a few crusaders try to investigate to bring him to account but to no avail.

The season two of the popular MXPlayer web series picks up from where the season one had ended. Now that we know what a wolf in the clothes of a lamb that Baba Nirala (Bobby Deol) is, he doesn’t need to pretend that he is a good guy. Except when he is in his durbar, where hordes of daily visitors come for his blessings, and he is busy preying upon unsuspecting pretty young women, and playing politics with the political leaders who come seeking his help. Yes.

As was expected, the cunning Baba starts playing ‘passing the parcel’ with CM Sundar Lal (Anil Rastogi) and Hukum Singh (Sachin Shroff) by offering to support them in the election.

If you remember the plot earlier, Pammi (Aaditi Pohankar) who is working hard to become wrestling champion and her brother Satti (Tushar Pandey) are staunch disciples of Baba while his sultry and sexy wife Babita (Tridha Choudhary) is regularly violated by Baba. It’s only when the Baba decides to rape an unconscious Pammi after mixing her kheer with bhang that she starts whether the Baba she adores is really all that holy

The dialogues reek of male chauvinism and vulgarity. When Parinitaa Seth’s character of the elderly Sadhvi Mata complaints to Baba Nirala that he is no longer sleeping with her and lusts after new younger women, by telling him, “Mujhe pata hai, ab aapka prashad gairo ko milta hai!”

Bobby Deol impresses in parts as the corrupt Godman but is stuck to only one dimension as an actor in the second season. In the meanwhile , like in the earlier season, the good looking doctor Natasha (Anupriya Goenka) is still busy forging a link between the two cops Ujagar Singh (Darshan Kumar) and Sadhu (Sameer Kochchar) and the equally intrepid videographer Akki (Rajeev Siddhartha), as they go about getting something, anything that implicates the Baba, in his own den.

The drama that was palpable with a dime a dozen twists and turns, no longer surprises or shocks you as the novelty has worn off but nevertheless the second season is engrossing enough to make you want more. The plot is shouldered by Baba and his faithful right-hand man Bhopa (Chandan Roy Sanyal), and his goons who merrily continue tormenting good people.

Adhyayan Suman disappoints as the pop singer Tinka Singh modeled after Mika Singh more in this season than the earlier as he does not even get a single dialogue with Baba Nirala or Bhopa and all the five episodes that he is seen in constantly have his long shot with him screaming 'Baba laayenge kraanti'. As 'Pammi', Aaditi Pohankar is excellent and expressive as an actor.

Aditi succeeds in making the viewer feel sympathetic towards her and also happy as a viewer when she finally realizes the whole truth about her family V/S Baba Nirala by the end of the second chapter, and decides to take matters in her own hands. However, to know how she has her revenge, you have to wait for the next season of the series to unfold. To sum up, it is a contemporary satire which you can watch without getting bored, though it has as many as nine episodes in all!