Aashram: When art imitates life

Nonika Singh

Should the title have been a dead giveaway? Perhaps yes, and maybe not quite. But all those who were worrying that Prakash Jha’s Aashram would be putting down one religion or the other, can rest easy. Aashram is less about religion (or even religiosity for that matter) and more about unscrupulous god-men who take the gullible to the cleaners.

Rather it’s about this one guru whose life story is very much fashioned after the one who is currently cooling his heels in jail. Do we need to name him? Well, playing safe the series doesn’t! Even chooses to place him in another state. But with Bobby Deol playing the lead bad man, very little is left to imagination. All of Gurmeet Ram Rahim’s misdeeds, proven ones and the alleged too, are writ large on the small screen.

Streaming on MX player begins on a dramatic note and goes back in time to follow a linear graph thereafter. The sequence is spread out in a fashion not too dissimilar to what played out in public domain a few years ago. Bobby Deol plays the meanie with the requisite charm and vileness. In the initial few episodes, masquerading as the messiah of the oppressed dalits, he does launch the charm offensive. Thereafter unfolds his real-reel character. Of course, it’s not just the conniving baba, whose followers’ chant jap-naam, has that ominous ring, who is familiar. So are other key characters, especially his second-in-command and Chandan Roy Sanyal is every bit the irascible rascal deputy.

Others from a journalist to an inspector to politicians, the pieces are set and duly inspired from reality and a love angle or two is the typical diversionary tactic. The story, though mostly taking from real-life incidents, boasts of an equally big name, Habib Faisal. He fleshes it altogether to give us an account, which goes way beyond newspaper headlines. Jha, known for handling politically explosive subjects, can’t be expected to soft pedal this one, which brings more than caste issues to the fore. There is an unholy alliance between political powers (both ruling and opposition) and the baba with enormous clout. Of course, that is the bigger picture.

At a micro level runs the story of a Dalit girl, her brother and their blind faith in him. Aaditi Pohankar’s diction and accent as low-caste Pammi may not be in place, but her gumption and faith in the dhongi baba is convincing enough. Other players in the game, Darshan Kumaar and Anupriya Goenka, are seasoned hands and play their parts with conviction.

By the way, Adhyayan Suman as the drug-snorting rockstar is impressive even though he makes only a brief presence in the first season spanning nine episodes.

You bet there is a second season, actually the opening rushes belong to the second one. Could the plot development that throws the rather depressing chain of events been accelerated? Sure and that is precisely why the series that packs it all does seem laboured at more than one point. The point it makes is loud and not quite subtle. But then, perhaps, packing subtlety in the tale of the man turning in the jail right now is too long a shot for even a director as capable as Jha. This is a life of exaggeration, whether it was the way he swayed the masses or how his nemesis caught up with him.

As repugnantly fascinating as the man for whom our revulsion finds a match in his followers’ andh-bhakti, Aashram makes it to the watchable list for its uncanny ability to raise our hackles once again. While you can certainly expect more when the second season unfolds, this one packs enough drama and bite to keep you engaged.