Ashram Season Two: Baba's Excesses Multiply, Revolts Take Place Signaling The End
Linus tackles things head-on. He takes sides in his analysis and it fits excellently with our editorial policy. No 'maybe's' and 'allegedly' for him, only things in black and white.
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By Linus Garg
First publised on 2020-11-20 11:43:37
About the Author
Linus tackles things head-on. He takes sides in his analysis and it fits excellently with our editorial policy. No 'maybe's' and 'allegedly' for him, only things in black and white.
View all posts by this Author
Aashram season two is in many ways much better than the first season for the simple reason that although the story becomes more terrifying with the excesses of Baba Nirala (Booby Deol) and his henchmen getting more deadly, those who are affected by them gain the courage to fight back in their own way, signaling that the end of the nefarious empire that the Baba has built is in sight.
As the Baba and Bhopa (Chandan Roy Sanyal) try to ride on two boats by trying to show both the ruling chief minister and the ex-chief minister that they are on their sides (and take money from both), they find the going tough when the ruling chief minister orders a raid at the ashram. Shaken by this, the Baba apparently makes peace with the chief minister, but he is not one to easily forget those who cross his path. He issues orders to his sevadars to ask the devotees to vote for the opposition and makes them win.
But it is the goings on in the ashram that keeps the viewer hooked. Inspector Ujagar Singh (Darshan Kumar) and reporter Akki (Rajeev Sidhartha) enter the ashram as a drug addict needing rehabilitation and an electrician, respectively. They try to gather evidence of wrong doing in the ashram. They also try to speak to those who are affected and Kavita (Anurita Jha) and Sanober (Preeti Sood) muster the courage to open up before them. When Ujagar is trying to click pictures of documents in a restricted area, one of the henchmen shows up. But Akki reaches there in time and together they strangle him to death and make it look like suicide. But Bhopa and the Baba know someone has breached the security and are shaken.
Parallel to this, the internal politics of the ashram takes a vicious turn when the head sadhvi finds that the Baba has started calling Babita (Tridha Choudhury) regularly to his room at night. She thinks that the Baba will make her the head. But the Baba does not listen to her and starts keeping Babita by his side. Bhopa is also ticked off when he tries to intervene. But later, Baba casts his sinful eye on Pammi (Aditi Pohankar) and rapes her after drugging her with the help of the sadhvi and the hostel warden. Aditi is devastated. She knows someone has raped her. She tells Kavita, Sanober and Babita but no one opens up to her. She even tells the Baba who calms her before raping her again. Later, Kavita tells her everything and Pammi feigns to be unconscious and catches the Baba when he tries to violate her. She storms out of chamber but is put in solitary confinement. Later, with the help of Babita, she resumes her training and cunningly manages to escape from the ashram. The story ends at that juncture, promising a riveting season three when the Baba's downfall will be shown.
Bobby Deol turns in a superb performance this season too. He has grown into the role and looks menacing even when smiling. Chandan Roy Sanyal gives his good support. The other actors have also given mature performances. Special mention needs to be made for Rajeev Sidhartha who as Akki has more screen time this season and does justice to the role. Aditi Pohankar shines this season too. The scenes where she breaks down before Babita are gut wrenching mainly because the viewer knows that Babita can do little to help her despite being her sister-in-law. The second season will keep the viewer hooked and make him yearn for the grand finale when the Baba's evil empire will be crushed by Pammi, Ujagar and Akki.
