“Aarya is
another underrated series ignored by audience. Even it was promoted as crime
thriller macho series, though Aarya more than makes up for the dearth of women in that
masculine, macho series.”
Sushmita Sen does a fantastic job of
fronting Aarya, a nine-episode Hotstar crime show about a woman who
takes charge of her family's pharma firm, opium plantation and drug warehouse
after her husband is killed the day after he promises that he is ready to put
his old shady life behind him. As tragedy strikes, the titular character
struggles to make sure that her three children stay out of harm's way, matches
wits with an anti-narcotics cell officer determined to bust the drug smuggling
racket and undertakes a mission to find her husband's killer. Aarya
is based on the Dutch series Penoza (meaning, the underworld), which began
airing in 2010, was a huge hit and went on for five seasons
The actress has been away for a while
but she hits the ground running in Aarya. The character she plays
is never fully in control in a toxic male-dominated word, but Sen is on the top
of her game all the way through. As long as she is at it, Aarya,
adapted for India by Ram Madhvani and Sandeep Modi from the Dutch drama series
Penoza, keeps you glued to the screen. The rest of the action not so much.
Co-actor Chandrachur Singh, too, is
back after a long hiatus. His role is far shorter - the character dies halfway
through the second episode. Singh vanishes quickly, but his Tej Sareen, who
runs a pharmaceutical company in Rajasthan with two partners - brother-in-law
Sangram (Ankur Bhatia) and family friend Jawahar (Namit Das) - hovers over the
story right until the end. For one, his collection of Hindi movie LPs from the
1960s and 1970s contribute generously to the retro soundtrack.
I have a very simple test of how good
a serial is. If I binge watch it in one go while battling sleep and despite a
busy early morning looming, then it's very good.
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