Aashram
Ratings: 3/5
Episodes: 09
Director: Prakash Jha
Genre: Crime. Drama
Release Date: 28th August 2020 (India)
Streaming On: MX Player
Star cast: Bobby Deol, Chandan Roy Sanyal, Aditi Sudhir Pohankar, Darshan Kumaar, Adhyayan Suman, Anupriya Goenka, Tridha Choudhury, Vikram Kochhar, Tushar Pandey, Sachin Shroff, Anurita Jha, Rajeev Siddhartha, Parinita Seth, Tanmay Ranjan, Preeti Sood, Jahangir Khan
Plot: Aashram is a fictional story about a self-proclaimed Godman - Baba Nirala from the city of Kashipur, who extracts his power from the impact he has over the lower strata of the society. He considers himself to be their Messiah, since he often stood for them.
The story portrays the life of a girl named Parmindar (Aditi Sudhir Pohankar) who portrays the story of this famous godman. It is during the critical times of the upcoming state elections that are gearing up, sudden resurfacing of a skeleton in the adjacent forest land, disrupts the peace of the city, and all the links of the investigation perplexingly point towards one direction - the Aashram.
Reviews: Aashram, directed by Prakash Jha, is an MX Player 09-part web series that revolves around a fake godman Baba Nirala played by Bobby Deol. The series brings all the flavours and ingredients that Prakash has delivered in his previous projects.
Bollywood has many times in the past highlighted similar concepts with some spectacular scripts. Be it Akshay Kumar starrer OMG or Raj Kumar Hirani’s PK - the movies have beautifully portrayed the obsession of Indians towards ‘dhongi babas’. Even this web series has managed to aptly reveal the dark side of the religious cults, an issue that is sensitive.
A good series has to come with a good cast and a power-packed performance - and without any doubt, Bobby Deol is definitely the center of attraction as he plays Babaji. His grace and personality as a Godman is sheer brilliance and can be said that he nailed his digital presence successfully!
Even when it comes to the supporting casts, they have done justice to their respective roles - with the role of a small-town girl Aditi Pohankar does an excellent job. Even Tushar Pandey and Darshan Kumaar do justice to their assigned roles as well.
Thus, despite some technical flaws, it culminates in all-essential elements with an optimum amount of crime, drama, suspense, mystery, and action.
Nevertheless, the topic being controversial, overall, the theme of the film ‘Aashram’ is strong and impactful, and will leave the viewers to ponder for a while that wherein as a society, have we gone wrong? Hence, this MX player web series is sure to enthrall each and every type of viewer.
