If Prakash Jha is able to transfer today’s social and political reality onto the screen, the future seasons of Aashram might just get a much-needed dose of eyeball-grabbing power, observes Deepa Gahlot.
Considering 10 episodes of Aashram's Season 3 came out in June 2022, it was an odd decision to release five episodes as part two instead of a new season.
There is not enough material to flesh out the plot from the point where part one of Season 3 ended but there is always the greed to keep a popular property going as long as possible.
When Prakash Jha’s Aashram came out in 2020, it gave Bobby Deol’s stagnant career a fresh lease of life and fledgling OTT channel, MX Player, its flagship show.
Now, MX Player has merged with Amazon Prime so it must have made sense to someone in the decision-making chair to revive Aashram and see that a proper Season 4 is produced in due course.
The series about a fraud godman was obviously inspired by the scams of real-life 'gurus' in the news for their debauchery, greed, corruption and power grabbing.
Still, judging by how susceptible Indians are to so-called spiritual leaders -- even fake ones -- the show is preceded by a lengthy disclaimer which states that it means no disrespect to the genuine religious gurus.
For those who did not see the earlier seasons (a long recap helps catch up), Bobby Deol plays Kashipurwale Baba Nirala, who, along with his cohort Bhopa Swami (Chandan Roy Sanyal) amasses immense wealth and political power using the aashram as their cover.
Under the guise of spiritual guidance and charity, Nirala and Bhopa are just jumped-up thugs, power brokers and sexual predators.
In Season 2, there is more of the same and it ends interestingly with the escape of a disciple, Pammi Pehelwan (Aaditi Pohankar), who had hoped to make a career in sports but ends up being exploited by Nirala.
In Season 3, renamed Ek Badnaam Aashram, there is little chance of any character development.
Nirala and Bhopa still play politicians Hukum Singh (Sachin Shroff) and Sunder Lal (Anil Rastogi) against each other and make money out of both.
Pammi gets help from an honest journalist Akki (Rajeev Siddhartha), a good cop Ujagar (Darshan Kumar) and a doctor (Anupriya Goenka).
A new character, Sonia (Esha Gupta), is introduced as a sexy image consultant who will help Baba become Bhagwan.
In this season's first part, Nirala gets out of the rape charge levelled by Pammi by claiming he had been castrated.
And in the second, only Ujagar is still holding on, hoping to topple Nirala’s throne.
Now pulling some strings -- Nirala is actually seen playing with puppets -- he gets Pammi imprisoned in the vast aashram where she is made to slave at menial chores.
Bhopa warns Nirala to keep his hands off Pammi but the all-powerful godman mopes over her like a teenager in love.
The five episodes drag with lengthy sex scenes as Pammi uses her powers of seduction to entice both Nirala and Bhopa.
A lot of footage is expended on the backstory of Nirala -- who used to be a mechanic and driver called Monty -- connived to get rid of the real guru and appoint himself successor, with Bhopa as his partner in crime.
This wraps up the Nirala-Pammi-Bhopa triangle but leaves scope to continue the Aashram story; hopefully, a proper plot can be thought up.
The original script was credited to Habib Faisal. Now, no writer is named in the opening titles.
If the casting of Bobby Deol as an evil character was a surprise in Season 1, by now he has made the character his own, wearing the flowing costume and headgear with ease and arranging his features into an expression of benevolence.
Chandan Roy Sanyal gets to do the raving and ranting while Aaditi Pohankar plays an unlikely temptress who pulls off her mission of revenge.
After the first season, the show acquired a visual polish. The candle-lit interiors often distract from the convoluted drama being played out with vaguely classical music in the background.
If Prakash Jha is able to transfer today’s social and political reality onto the screen, the future seasons of Aashram might just get a much-needed dose of eyeball-grabbing power.
Aashram Season 3 Part 2 streams on Amazon Prime Video.
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