Ashram: Season 2
Ratings: 4.2/5
Director: Prakash Jha
Screenplay: Kuldeep Ruhil, Tejpal Singh Rawat, Avinash Kumar, Madhvi Bhatt
Genre: Crime-Drama
Language: Hindi
Release Date: 11 November 2020
Released In: MX Player
Star Cast: Bobby Deol, Chandan Roy Sanyal, Aaditi Pohankar, Tushar Pandey, Darshan Kumar, Anupriya Goenka, Tridha Choudhury, Vikram Kochhar, Anil Rastogi, Sachin Shroff, Anurita Jha, Rajeev Siddhartha, Jahangir Khan, Kanupriya Gupta, Adhyayan Suman, Tanmay Ranjan, Vikram Katyal, Keshav Pandit, Mala Sinha, Rupesh Kumar, Dimpy Mishra, Nawal Shukla, Puneeta Awasthy, Akash Jaiswal, Agraj Panday, Anand Prakash Sharma, Simmi Bhatia, Amit Sinha, Amit Sahu, Ikram Khan, Ajay Singh, Tulika Banerjee, Akhilesh Tripathi, Pradeep Kukreja, Subrato Roy, Manish Mishra
Plot:
The story revolves around a Baba (preacher), played by Bobby Deol, known as 'Baba Nirala', whose followers have blind faith in him and will do anything that he asks of them. But Baba Nirala is a conman, who ensures that his devotees devote their wealth to him and stay attached to the Aashram for life. Meanwhile, Darshan Kumaar is a cop in this series and is adamant about unravelling the truth behind the skeletons and dead bodies recovered from the Asharam's property.
Every episode unfolds a mystery that revolves around the Baba Nirala. Whether the cop will find evidence and prove anything is left for the Part II of 'Aashram'.
Review:
The second season of MX Player's much-talked-about web series Ashram has just released Ashram Chapter 2. In the first season, it was shown how feelings of common people were being tampered in the name of religion and faith. The tagline of the second season chapter 2 is the ‘dark side’, so there are chances that one gets to see more of the black acts of Baba Nirala, being exposed. Exploitation of women, youths have been shown to have increased under the dominance of Baba.
This season focuses on how politics and religion go hand in hand, which is how this Baba takes advantage of it. This season, the story runs very slowly. It is rather interesting to note that both the parts of the ashram were shot simultaneously, later they were divided into two parts. The questions that were left at the end of the series 1, still lingers on at the end of this season.
Bobby Deol reprises his role as the soft-spoken leader of a cult that superficially focuses on uplifting the downtrodden, while insidiously running a drug business. With the rise in Nirala’s popularity, rises his growing lust, corruption, political dealings, and greed.
In the second season of ‘Ashram (Aashram), there is a focus towards increasing criminal activities in the ashram of Baba Nirala of Kashipur. Consumption of drugs is increasing in Baba’s ashram, while exploitation is also increasing; Baba is becoming more dark and self-involved, as rightly the season has promised. Baba’s interference in politics takes a roller coaster ride in this season. One needs to mention the laddus and this time it is not your sweet and savoury ones!
Two opposing politicians, Chief Minister Sundar Lal (Anil Rastogi) and opposition leader Hukum Singh (Sachin Shroff), preparing for an upcoming state election, ally with Nirali’s ashram in order to reach a wider electorate. Pop singer Tinka Singh’s (Adhyayan Suman) concerts become the stage for Nirala to preach his word and display his political alliance. At the same time, an undercover investigation to rake up dirt on Babaji is underway.
Based on a story by Habib Faisal, the screenplay and dialogue (Kuldeep Ruhil) indulge in plots and subplots that are not connected with each other with enough strength. Fortunately, with the vast ensemble cast and their earnest performances and the detailed production design, this season will keep you engaged.
