Star
Cast:
Bobby
Deol,
Aaditi
Pohankar,
Chandan
Roy
Sanyal,
Darshan
Kumaar,
Anupria
Goenka
Director:
Prakash
Jha
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.