June 2020 – The Common Man Speaks

The OTT (over the top) medium has proved to be a boon for crime thrillers. We see plenty of them in various languages over the world. Unlike cinema, the writers here get proper time to establish the storyline and slowly build up the excitement for the finale.

Disney + Hotstar’s Aarya is also a series under the same genre. The story takes place in a town in Rajasthan and it revolves around Tej Sareen (Chandrachur Singh) and his wife Aarya Sareen (Sushmita Sen). Tej runs a business of illegal medicines along with friend Jawahar (Namit Das) and brother-in-law Sangram (Ankur Bhatia).

The lust for more money compels Sangram and Jawahar to steal a large consignment of cocaine from the dreaded gangster Shekhawat (Manish Chaudhary) in order to sell it. But Tej is completely against this move. This develops a conflict between him and his two partners. Tej wants to leave the whole business; something he promised Aarya long back.

However, Tej’s plan receives a jolt after he is shot at by an unknown person. With her husband in critical condition, Aarya is forced to clear the mess in order to protect herself and her three children. Along with the bad guys, she is also pitted against ACP (Assistant Commissioner of Police) Khan (Vikas Kumar).

Although Aarya also falls in the genre of crime thriller, it would be unfair to say that it is just another series in the genre. This is not your usual crime saga where there’s high-octane action, too many killings and chase sequences. Aarya is a nuanced and layered drama where, along with crime, emotions also play a major part through various parallel tracks, with each being interesting.

So, while Aarya is caught in a cat-and-mouse game with both the villains and police, her journey is more emotional due to her love for her children and dead husband. There are other interesting tracks about Aarya’s sister Soundarya (Priyasha Bhardwaj) and her to-be husband Bob Wilson (Alexx O’Nell). The troubled married life of Jawahar and his wife Maya (Maya Sarao), who is Aarya’s close friend.

Aarya also makes a statement of how even among the wealthy households, patriarchy rules even in 2020. The narrative does so in a subtle way through the sub-plot of Aarya’s father Zorawar (Jayant Kripalani) and his young mistress Radhika aka Rads (Flora Saini).

Despite the presence of a number of characters, the writers have kept the character of Aarya in the center. She is a complex woman who shows different versions of herself in front of different people. She can feel emotionally numb but at another instance shows her powerful and fearless side.

In other words, the character had to go through various emotions in her journey. Sushmita Sen has added life in each emotion effortlessly thereby packing a puck in her comeback. Her act makes it clear that there is so much left in her, which mainstream Hindi cinema should take note of.

Aarya is filled with a long list of impressive performances from the likes of Chandrachur Singh, Namit Das, Ankur Bhatia, Manish Chaudhary, Priyasha Bhardwaj, Sikander Kher, Virti Vaghani (as Sen’s daughter), Jayant Kriplani, Vikas Kumar, Maya Sarao, Vishwajeet Pradhan, Sohaila Kapoor, Alexx O’Nell and others.

There are times when it seems that the nine-episodic Aarya should have been pacier. Few sub-plots could have been given less importance. The series also takes creative liberties here and there, which is generally a case in thrillers.

Also read: Panchayat Review – A perfect ode to Swades

But Aarya ends on an impressive note which provides a kick and gains your interest for its second season. The Bhagavad Gita sequence in the end gives a perfect ode to Sen’s character. It is also refreshing to see a woman given a place of Arjuna.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Directors: Ram Madhvani, Sandeep Modi and Vinod Rawat

Writers: Ram Madhvani, Sandeep Shrivastava and Anupkaran Singh

Cast: Sushmita Sen, Chandrachur Singh, Namit Das, Ankur Bhatia, Manish Chaudhary, Priyasha Bhardwaj, Sikander Kher, Virti Vaghani, Jayant Kriplani, Vikas Kumar, Maya Sarao, Vishwajeet Pradhan, Sohaila Kapoor, Alexx O’Nell

Platform: Disney + Hotstar

Number of episodes: 9

The shocking death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput through suicide has once again highlighted that depression is something that needs to be taken very seriously. People can be depressed due to various reasons. The most prominent among them is making an individual feel worthless.

Here are 8 ways in which the society makes an individual feel like a loser without any fault of his or hers:

— It starts from childhood itself when parents compare their child’s marks with their cousins’ and neighbors’. In case their son or daughter has fared much worse than other children, he or she is made to feel like a loser. Remember, wounds inflicted during childhood take the longest time to heal, which ultimately turns into depression.

— When an individual chooses an off-beat course like Arts, he or she is considered a loser because becoming doctors and engineers is a must when it comes to gaining respect from the society. It has happened with me and my brother when a family friend once asked my mother, “How did you even allow your kids to pursue Arts?” It was as if the two of us chose to become underworld gangsters.

— Similarly, if you pursue a creative field as a profession and are even doing well in it, you are still looked down upon by the samaaj. Indirect remarks will be made. And asking your salary in front of others gives them a different kind of a high.

— I guess I don’t need to explain much about how people are judged based on their physical attributes, including skin colors and they are made to feel like losers which slowly leads them to self-guilt and depression. Matrimonial ads are the best place to know how deep-rooted this mentality is.

— The question of marriage is the biggest menace in our samaaj. In case you are 30 and unmarried, you are a criminal. As simple as that. More so, if you are a girl. The society will look down upon you as if you don’t deserve to live if you are unmarried at this age.

At times people think that a person hasn’t got married even after crossing 30 because he or she has some problem. Firstly, it’s an individual’s personal issue and none of your business. Secondly, if he or she has a problem, is that a crime?

— When unmarried people are being looked down upon, you can well imagine how a divorcee is made to feel in our society. There are plenty of cases where a person has no other choice but to opt for divorce. But instead of understanding his or her problem, the person is made to feel like a criminal, especially girls, which thereby leads to depression.

For example, a friend of mine who is highly educated considers divorcees as ‘second hand maal’ and feels it is normal to say so.

— If you thought getting married will gain you acceptance from the samaaj, you are grossly mistaken. This is followed by the stage where people look at you with suspicion if you haven’t become a parent even after few years of marriage. The thought of either the husband or wife having a ‘problem’ will creep up again and you will be made to feel guilty. Giving support is out of question.

In case you decide not to have kids, which is a couple’s personal decision, you are considered lunatic.

— Being jobless is another crime. In case you leave a job without having another offer simply because the work and work culture was affecting you mentally, very few would understand that. In fact, even if you are laid off for no fault of yours, you are still made to feel guilty.

The tragedy is that society doesn’t even realize that they are inflicting pain on an individual through, what they believe, is ‘general talk and questioning.’ They have no idea that this slowly leads to a person feeling worthless, which is the starting point of being depressed.

Additional reading:

Why people in their 30s should stop believing they are 70

Archives for June 2020

Aarya Review – Sushmita Sen packs a powerful punch in her comeback vehicle

You might be triggering DEPRESSION in someone without even knowing it