CAST: SUSHMITA SEN, ANKUR BHATIA, AKASH KHURANA,SIKANDAR KHER
CREATED AND DIRECTED BY: RAM MADHVANI, VINOD RAWAT, KAPIL SHARMA
BLUF:
The gritty mother of three is back and she is even more embedded in the conspiracies woven by her family, their enemies, and the law enforcement.
As she stands up to her family with the whole intent of protecting her children, the more she tries to disengage; the more she gets webbed.
The story of grit, love, animosity, business, and personal weaponized in the midst of the drug cartels of Rajasthan.
Lives at stake, how will Aarya Sareen live up to the expectations her children have.
THE MEAT AND THE POTATOES
This season continues the story from where we had left it in the last season when Aarya was leaving for New Zealand and she gets a text from the Russians. ACP Khan has now relocated them to Australia in a witness protection program and she is now required to travel back to Rajasthan to implicate her family in court by testifying to the authenticity of the data she had handed over to the cops.
Aarya’s (Sushmita Sen) father Zorawar Rathore (Jayant Kripalani), brother Sangram Rathore (Ankur Bhatia), and Udayveer Shekhawat (Akash Khurana) are imprisoned and awaiting trial because Aarya had handed over to ACP Yonis Khan the Pendrive that her husband Tej had left for her which gave the cops and the public prosecutor data about money trails related to the drug deals of the family and their alliance partners.
However, she gets immediately embroiled in the family drama, the revenge of their alliance partners, and the Russian Mafia as soon as she lands. She becomes the hunted.
While Aarya’s children still deal with their father’s untimely death, her youngest son Aditya aka Adi (Pratyaksh Panwar), who is shaken by the incident of witnessing his father’s murder, attends therapy sessions, while daughter Arundhati aka Aaru (Virti Vaghani), who is unable to shake off the trauma, is now depressed and suicidal. The eldest son, Veer (Viren Vazirani), serves as a support system for his mother and tries to deal with a lot on his mother’s plate.
IN THE KNOW
Created by Ram Madhvani who is the pro of adaptations for the Hindi world, ‘Aarya’ is based on the Dutch series ‘Penoza’ which is the story of a woman who traverses the path from being a housewife and mother to a drug mafia don. The writers (Sanyuktha Chawla Shaikh and Anu Singh Choudhary) have perfected the art of writing Aarya’s life, as well as the surprising aspects of love, loyalty, betrayal, and relationships extremely well. As Aarya says; I am just a working mom; she is. The mom goes to any length to protect her children.
The character arc of each of the characters is very well executed and written. The finesse of the screenplay is a big plus for the series. The show is paced perfectly and keeps you on the binge very effectively.
The background music is remarkable with the Hindi film oldies really getting you to reminisce the vibe – all except the “o maa” song that seemed corny for the situation
The writing is superlative with many take-home dialogues “Kamjor hum nahi waqt hota hain, this time will pass” “Not a don, I am just a working mother.” are really well placed.
Sushmita plays a widowed wife, a frightened mother, and a tough woman dealing with criminals and drug mafias using her wit with conviction. She shines and that makes the entire plot shine.
There were some scene lift offs like the one where Aarya is interrogated is a frame-by-frame copy from Hawkeye. The action sequences are great and the even the copies are really well executed.
However ACP Khan’s same gender love track with partner Ajay Kumar (Nishank Verma) seems to be an appendage that does not add much dimension to the character graph of Khan.
The other key characters, Jayant Kripalani as Zorawar, Ankur Bhatia as Sangram Rathore, Akash Khurana as Udayveer Shekhawat, Vishwajeet Pradhan as Sekhawat’s main henchman, Sampat, Sikander Kher as Daulat all are well cast and executed.
Cannot wait for the next season
WHAT WE LOVED:
Sushmita Sen
Screen play, Direction
WHAT WE MISSED
More surprising surprises.
