Aashram Web Series Review: The Crime Drama Is A Bigger Con Than Bobby Deol's Godman
The show set in a fictional town called Kashipur, centres a self-proclaimed God-Man called Kashipur waale Baba Nirala played by Bobby Deol
Available On: MX Player
Duration: 9 Episodes / 40 Minutes
Language: Hindi
Story: The show set in a fictional town called Kashipur, centres a self-proclaimed Godman called Kashipur waale Baba Nirala. He is known to stand up for the poor, and when he rescues a lower caste girl Pammi, she is drawn towards his devotion. Meanwhile, a skeleton surfaces in the adjacent forest land and disrupts the corrupt system in the city during the upcoming elections, as the investigation points at the mysterious Aashram.

Review: Aashram directed by Prakash Jha, follows several angles of the same story that centres the Aashram of Kashipur waale Baba Nirala aka Monty, played by Bobby Deol. Aashram spends its first two episodes trying to convince that Babaji is just a part of the system and is trying his best to help as many people as he can. But for the rest of the show, we see him make plans to take over every system in the fictional country and execute them. There is nothing that Kashipur waale Baba Nirala can't do, including keeping people in the Aashram and others out of it.
The show starts with the story of a girl Pammi trying to escape from the Aashram, as she slowly chokes her opponent unconscious on the floor, the audience is given a backdrop of his skill as a wrestling champion. Pammi faces discrimination everywhere because of her caste, and when she finally sees everyone bow down to one man, her rescuer, she decides to devote herself to him. You'd expect the show to be about her journey as she uncovers the truth, but in every episode you see an angle emerging.

Bobby Deol Plays Kashipur Waale Baba Nirala
While Padmini is losing herself in devotion, we see Babaji and his staff commit other range of crimes from murder, drug dealing, human rights violations, sexual abuse to manipulating elections and public sentiment. Despite all the crimes taking place in the Aashram, nobody suspects the place, thanks to the huge number of devotees that are spread at all levels in the system and the common public. The only investigation that slowly leads to the Aasharm is because of a skeleton found in nearby forest land.

The MX Player Series Is Directed By Prakash Jha
Aashram's screenplay struggles in an effort to connect all the dots, it starts with Pammi but we hardly get to see her do anything. She only gets fooled while other's problems take the forefront. In an effort to show how deep corruption runs, the screenplay spends too much time on developing the subplots. Several subplots in the story themselves have subplots, dragging the story way beyond its capacity to entertain the audience.

Aashram Is Streaming From August 28
If the script and the show would have spend a bit more time on the editing floor, Bobby Deol's dramatic flair would have made a bigger impact. Aaditi Pohankar, Darshan Kumaar and Chandan Roy Sanyal need more appreciation for their consistent efforts. Even with two-dimensional characters, they evoke an emotion from you. Meanwhile, Bobby Deol ends up as a single-minded villain with nothing more to him.
Overall, Aashram promises to take a hard look at the corrupt society, and instead gives us an account of how one man slowly took over the world with no inner drive.


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