Aashram

Last updated

Aashram
Aashram (poster).jpg
Updated official poster
Genre
Screenplay by
  • Kuldeep Ruhil
  • Tejpal Singh Rawat
  • Avinash Kumar
  • Madhvi Bhatt
Story by Habib Faisal
Directed by Prakash Jha
Starring Bobby Deol
Voices ofSanjay Masoom
ComposersSunny Inder (songs and background score)
Country of originIndia
Original languageHindi
No. of seasons3
No. of episodes28 (list of episodes)
Production
Producer Prakash Jha
Production locationIndia
CinematographyChandan Kowli
EditorSantosh Mandal
Camera setup Multi-camera
Production company Prakash Jha Productions
Original release
Network MX Player
Release28 August 2020 (2020-08-28) 
present (present)

Aashram (English: Hermitage) is an Indian Hindi-language crime drama web series directed by Prakash Jha for MX Player original. [1] It is produced by Prakash Jha under Prakash Jha Productions. [2] The series stars Bobby Deol along with Aaditi Pohankar, Darshan Kumar, Chandan Roy Sanyal, Tushar Pandey, Anupriya Goenka, Adhyayan Suman, Vikram Kochhar, Esha Gupta, Tridha Choudhury, Rajeev Siddhartha, Sachin Shroff, Anurita Jha, Parinitaa Seth, Jahangir Khan, Kanupriya Gupta, Preeti Sood, Navdeep Tomar and Ayaan Aditya, in key roles. [3] [4] It is written by Madhvi Bhatt, Avinash Kumar, Sanjay Masoomm, Tejpal Singh Rawat and Kuldeep Ruhil. [5] Its first season was made available for streaming on OTT platform MX Player for free from 28 August 2020. [6]

Contents

The second season of the series was released on MX Player on 11 November 2020, [7] with the third season following in June 2022, respectively. The series has been renewed for a fourth season in 2023. [8]

Summary

The story revolves around a godman, Baba Nirala (Bobby Deol), whose followers (mostly from the disadvantaged sections of the society) have blind faith in him and will do anything that he asks of them. In reality, he is a conman who ensures that his devotees devote their wealth to him and stay attached to his ashram for life. Politicians Hukum Singh (Sachin Shroff) and incumbent CM Sundar Lal (Anil Rastogi) vie for Baba Nirala's support in the upcoming State Legislative Assembly Elections owing to his large number of followers for their vote bank politics, which only increase after a pop singer, Tinka Singh (Adhyayan Suman) decides to conduct tours with Baba Nirala to promote his new song.

Meanwhile, SI Ujagar Singh (Darshan Kumar) is a police officer who has little interest in his job and simply follows his seniors' orders, until he meets Dr. Natasha (Anupriya Goenka) in a case related to a skeleton found on the property of an industrial group which has good ties with Sundar Lal. Her constant pestering, along with the stubbornness of a small-time journalist Akhivendra Rathi alias Akki (Rajeev Siddhartha) encourages him to take up this case, along with his assistant senior constable Sadhu Sharma (Vikram Kocchar).

Cast

Series overview

SeasonEpisodesOriginally aired
First airedLast aired
1 9August 28, 2020 (2020-08-28)
2 9November 11, 2020 (2020-11-11)
3 10June 3, 2022 (2022-06-03)

Episodes

Season 1 (2020)

No.TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal release date
1"Pran Pratishtha"Prakash JhaHabib Faisal28 August 2020 (2020-08-28)
2"Grih Pravesh"Prakash JhaHabib Faisal28 August 2020 (2020-08-28)
3"Duh Swapna"Prakash JhaHabib Faisal28 August 2020 (2020-08-28)
4"Sewa Daar"Prakash JhaHabib Faisal28 August 2020 (2020-08-28)
5"Amrit Sudha"Prakash JhaHabib Faisal28 August 2020 (2020-08-28)
6"Vish Haran"Prakash JhaHabib Faisal28 August 2020 (2020-08-28)
7"Gati Rodh"Prakash JhaHabib Faisal28 August 2020 (2020-08-28)
8"Shuddhi Karan"Prakash JhaHabib Faisal28 August 2020 (2020-08-28)
9"Maha Prasad"Prakash JhaHabib Faisal28 August 2020 (2020-08-28)

Season 2 (2020)

No.TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal release date
1"Triya - Charitra"Prakash JhaHabib Faisal11 November 2020 (2020-11-11)
2"Chhadma - Vesh"Prakash JhaHabib Faisal11 November 2020 (2020-11-11)
3"Naag - Paash"Prakash JhaHabib Faisal11 November 2020 (2020-11-11)
4"Mrig - Trishna"Prakash JhaHabib Faisal11 November 2020 (2020-11-11)
5"Kaliya - Mardan"Prakash JhaHabib Faisal11 November 2020 (2020-11-11)
6"Chhadma - Yudhha"Prakash JhaHabib Faisal11 November 2020 (2020-11-11)
7"Moh - Bhang"Prakash JhaHabib Faisal11 November 2020 (2020-11-11)
8"Koot - Neeti"Prakash JhaHabib Faisal11 November 2020 (2020-11-11)
9"Chakra - Vaat"Prakash JhaHabib Faisal11 November 2020 (2020-11-11)

Season 3 (2022)

No.TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal release date
1"Indra - Prastha"Prakash JhaHassam Tarikh3 June 2022 (2022-06-03)
2"Chakravyu"Prakash JhaHassam Tariq3 June 2022 (2022-06-03)
3"Charan - Kamal"Prakash JhaHassam Tariq3 June 2022 (2022-06-03)
4"Guru - Dakshina"Prakash JhaHassam Tariq3 June 2022 (2022-06-03)
5"Kaam - Vatika"Prakash JhaHassam Tariq3 June 2022 (2022-06-03)
6"Swarg - Lok"Prakash JhaHassam Tariq3 June 2022 (2022-06-03)
7"Halahal"Prakash JhaHassam Tariq3 June 2022 (2022-06-03)
8"Kuchakra"Prakash JhaHassam Tariq3 June 2022 (2022-06-03)
9"Shankh - Naad"Prakash JhaHassam Tariq3 June 2022 (2022-06-03)
10"Mahabhiyog"Prakash JhaHassam Tariq3 June 2022 (2022-06-03)

Marketing and release

Promotion

The official trailer of the two seasons of this web series was launched on August 16, 2020 [9] and October 29, 2020 respectively by MX Player on YouTube. [10]

Release

Season 1 and Season 2 was made available for streaming from August 28, 2020 and November 11, 2020 respectively on OTT Platform MX Player. [11] The series made its TV debut through The Q on October 11, 2021.

Critical reception

Writing for NDTV , Saibal Chatterjee rated the series 3 out of 5 adding that “Prakash Jha's digital debut is ambitious, provocative and action-packed.” He praised the performances of actors and concept handling from the director Prakash Jha. [12] Rohan Nahaar of Hindustan Times wrote that Aashram is “a show that doesn’t have the courage of its convictions. The self-censorship of sex scenes is emblematic of the trepidation with which Jha approaches the story. As it turns out, that ridiculous disclaimer was utterly unnecessary.” [13]

Controversies

In December 2020, Jodhpur Court had served a legal notice to Bobby Deol and director Prakash Jha after Karni Sena filed a case on the actor and the director for hurting their sentiments and stated that the show "is an attempt to discredit Hinduism and Ashrams". [14] [15] In October 2021, the Bajrang Dal group targeted Aashram web series sets and Prakash Jha for defaming Hindus and the entire aashram system, through his web series, whereas the sets were vandalised by the group. [16] Director Prakash Jha stated that "They will voice their concerns, but I think about the thousands who see my project in the correct manner. It is no joke that 1.5 billion people watched it. If we say there will be no objection, it is not right. " [17] Later, Bobby Deol supported Jha and stated that the show is not about defaming anyone and as an actor nothing else matters. [18]

Notes

    Related Research Articles

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Bobby Deol</span> Indian film actor (born 1969)

    Vijay Singh Deol, better known as Bobby Deol, is an Indian actor who works in Bollywood. A member of the Deol family, he is the younger son of actor Dharmendra and brother of actor Sunny Deol.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Abhay Deol</span> Indian film actor

    Abhay Deol is an Indian actor and producer who is known for his work in Hindi films alongside Tamil cinema. Born in the Deol family, he made his on-screen debut in 2005 with Imtiaz Ali's romantic comedy Socha Na Tha.

    Ashram is a Hindu hermitage or retreat, typically for spiritual instruction and meditation.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Esha Gupta</span> Indian actress (b.1985)

    Esha Gupta is an Indian actress and model who works in Hindi films. She was crowned Femina Miss India International 2007 and represented India at Miss International 2007. She made her acting debut with the crime thriller Jannat 2 (2012), and Raaz 3 (2012) and Baadshaho (2017) and Murder 4 (2024) receiving a Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut nomination.

    <i>Samrat & Co.</i> 2014 film by Kaushik Ghatak

    Samrat & Co. is a 2014 Indian Hindi-language detective thriller film directed by Kaushik Ghatak and produced by Kavita K. Barjatya under the banner of Rajshri Productions. It features Rajeev Khandelwal in the title role of Samrat. The film was initially scheduled for release on 1 May 2014 release but was released ahead of schedule on 25 April 2014.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Tridha Choudhury</span> Indian actress

    Tridha Choudhury is an Indian actress who predominantly appears in Hindi, Bengali and Telugu films and series. She won the title, Clean & Clear Times of India Freshface 2011. Her first movie was Mishawr Rawhoshyo in 2013, directed by Srijit Mukherji. She made her television debut in the StarPlus series Dahleez which was premiered on 14 March 2016. Her latest work being Bandish Bandits directed by Anand Tewari & Aashram by Prakash Jha.

    Mahakavi is an Indian television documentary series, hosted by poet Kumar Vishwas on Hindi news channel ABP News. It premiered on 5 November 2016. Prior to the begin of the series, a curtain raiser of the series was aired on 28 October 2016. It aims to bring to the audience life-story, poems and never-seen-before facts about legendary Indian poets. The weekly programme chronicles the life sketch of ten Hindi poets of twentieth century.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Aaditi Pohankar</span> Indian actress

    Aaditi Pohankar is an Indian actress. She had her breakthrough role alongside Riteish Deshmukh in the Marathi action film Lai Bhaari (2014). She gained wider attention for her roles in the Hindi web series She and Aashram.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Gold Award for Best Actress in a Lead Role</span>

    Gold Award for Best Actress in a Lead Role is an award given as part of its annual Gold Awards for TV serials.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Rajeev Siddhartha</span> Indian actor

    Rajeev Siddhartha is an Indian actor / director His work spans productions across film, television, theatre and digital web series. Siddhartha began his career in 2007 with the film Dil Dosti Etc and received critical acclaim as Romil in ALTBalaji's web series show Romil & Jugal in 2017.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Anupriya Goenka</span> Indian actress and model (b. 1987)

    Anupria Goenka is an Indian actress and model who appears in Hindi and Telugu films. She first shot to fame in 2013 as the face of UPA government's Bharat Nirman. Goenka made her on-screen debut with the 2013 Telugu film Potugadu, having previously starred in the 2013 short film Worth the Kiss. She made her Bollywood debut with Bobby Jasoos.

    <i>Rangbaaz</i> (TV series) Indian web series

    Rangbaaz is an Indian web series set against the rustic background of the Gorakhpur in the 1990s. It was released as a ZEE5 original on 22 December 2018. In October 2019, ZEE5 renewed the show for a second season, Rangbaaz Phirse, which premiered on 20 December 2019. Season three of Rangbaaz title Rangbaaz: Darr Ki Rajneeti premiered on ZEE5 on 29 July 2022.

    MX Player is an Indian video streaming and video on demand platform, developed by MX Media & Entertainment platform currently operates on an ad-supported model. This video streaming app has a library of over 150,000 hours of videos in 11 languages. It is available on iOS, Android and the web.

    <i>Criminal Justice</i> (Indian TV series) Indian web series

    Criminal Justice is an Indian Hindi-language crime thriller legal drama web series for Hotstar Specials, based on the 2008 British television series of the same name, written by Shridhar Raghavan and was directed by Tigmanshu Dhulia and Vishal Furia. Starring Pankaj Tripathi, Vikrant Massey, Jackie Shroff, Anupriya Goenka and Mita Vashisht in lead roles, the storyline follows the life of individuals on a gut-wrenching journey through the criminal justice system.

    <i>Abhay</i> (TV series) Indian web series

    Abhay is a ZEE5 Original Indian Hindi-language psychological crime thriller web series. Produced by B. P. Singh under Fiction Factory Productions, and directed by Ken Ghosh, the series marks the digital debut of Bollywood actor Kunal Khemu, who stars alongside Elnaaz Norouzi, Sandeepa Dhar and Namit Das. The series revolves around officer Abhay Pratap Singh, an investigating officer with the mind of a criminal, who can go to any extent to solve a case. The first season comprised eight episodes and was released on ZEE5 on 7 February 2019.

    <i>Criminal Justice: Behind Closed Doors</i> Indian web series

    Criminal Justice: Behind Closed Doors is an Indian Hindi-language legal drama web series for Hotstar Specials written by Apurva Asrani and directed by Rohan Sippy and Arjun Mukerjee. The series stars Pankaj Tripathi, Kirti Kulhari, Jisshu Sengupta and Khushboo Atre, and was released through Disney+ Hotstar on 24 December 2020.

    <i>Raktanchal</i> Hindi-language crime drama web series

    Raktanchal is a Hindi-language crime drama web series directed by Ritam Srivastav for MX Player original. The story of the web-series is inspired by real-life events from the 1980s of two notable mafias Purvanchal, a region in east Uttar Pradesh. The series stars Kranti Prakash Jha and Nikitin Dheer along with Chittaranjan Tripathy, Vikram Kochhar, Pramod Pathak, Soundarya Sharma, Ronjini Chakraborty and Daya Shankar Pandey.

    <i>Love Hostel</i> Indian Romantic Thriller film by Shanker Raman

    Love Hostel is a 2022 Indian Hindi-language romantic thriller film written and directed by Shanker Raman and produced by Red Chillies Entertainment and Drishyam Films. It stars Vikrant Massey, Sanya Malhotra and Bobby Deol. The film was released directly on ZEE5 on 25 February 2022.

    References

    1. "MX Player drops the trailer of 'Aashram'". National Herald. 18 August 2020.
    2. "Bobby Deol's Aashram, The Gone Game, Malayalam flick Veyil: Trailers released this week". Firstpost. 18 August 2020.
    3. "'Aashram' trailer unveiled: Bobby Deol-Prakash Jha shed light on politics in spiritual world". DNA India. 17 August 2020.
    4. Desk, India com Entertainment (17 August 2020). "Aashram Trailer: Bobby Deol Steps Into The Digital World as Spiritual Leader in Prakash Jha's New Series". India News, Breaking News, Entertainment News | India.com.
    5. "Aashram Trailer: Bobby Deol blends into a new character in a show that questions its morality". mid-day. 17 August 2020.
    6. "Watch | Bobby Deol's 'Aashram' trailer out now". The Statesman . 17 August 2020.
    7. "Bobby Deol-starrer Aashram season 2 to premiere on 11th November 2020". The Daily Voice (India). 11 November 2020.
    8. Tom Llewellyn (3 June 2022). "AASHRAM SEASON 4 CONFIRMED BY BOBBY DEOL, RELEASE SET FOR 2023". HITC.
    9. "The trailer of Prakash Jha's upcoming webseries Aashram was released today - The Thinkera". 17 August 2020. Archived from the original on 13 April 2021. Retrieved 9 March 2021.
    10. "Aashram trailer Bobby Deol plays a spiritual leader who veers between 'aastha' and 'apraadh' in Prakash Jha's new series". Hindustan Times. 17 August 2020.
    11. "The trailer of Prakash Jha's Aashram starring Bobby Deol looks promising". www.indulgexpress.com.
    12. "Aashram Review: With Bobby Deol's Solid Presence, Prakash Jha's Digital Debut Is Nothing If Not Bingeworthy". NDTV.com. Retrieved 17 July 2021.
    13. "Aashram review: Bobby Deol's show has a bark that's worse than its bite". Hindustan Times. 28 August 2020. Retrieved 17 July 2021.
    14. "'Aashram': Jodhpur Court Serves Notice To Bobby Deol And Director Prakash Jha". ABP News. 14 December 2020.
    15. "'Controversial depiction of Hindu saints in Aashram': Plea filed against Prakash Jha, Bobby Deol". Daily News and Analysis . 16 December 2020.
    16. "Ashram 3 Sets in Bhopal Vandalised". Hindustan Times. 24 October 2021.
    17. "Prakash Jha on Aashram 3 controversies: 'For each one who objects, there will be thousands who support your vision'". Hindustan Times. 3 June 2022.
    18. "Actor Bobby Deol Comes in Defence of 'Ek Badnaam….Ashram 3'". The Statesman. 9 June 2022.