Lockdown, due to Covid-19, has brought a positive aspect towards film lovers. Most of the film makers are now opting for OTT platforms and switching from film to web series. Aarya is one such web series that is much talked about during the lockdown.
Sushmita Sen has made his comeback with this series after a long time. Sushmita last appeared in the film Nirbaak (2015) directed by Srijit Mukherjee. Let’s see if her comeback is impressive or not.
‘Aarya’ is a Crime Thriller released on Distney+Hotstar on 19 June, 2020. The series basically a Hindi version of a Dutch series named Ponza that simply means lady don.
Zorawar (Jayant Kriplani), an old man used to grow opium plant and makes out medicines and illegal drugs as well. Since Zorawar has grown old now his son Sangram (Ankur Bhatia), Son-in-Law Tej (Chandrachur Singh) and friend of Sangram Jawahar (Namit Das), are now looking after the empire of Zorawar.
One day an unknown biker, wering a helmet, shots Tej to dead. Tej’s youngest Son becomes the key witness of the incident. However, Aarya Sareen (Sushmita Sen) faces a series of threats after the sudden demise of Tej.
Simultaneously, police arrests Sangram with releation to murder of two goons of Shekhawat (Manish Chaudhary), a big drug mafia and Jawahar appears playing a foul game with Aarya.
The story depicts the crime drama and Aarya’s journey to find the real culprit behind the murder of her husband. The series also shows her conflict with big criminals and drug mafia and her fight to save her family.
Aarya (Sushmita Sen) lives happily with her husband Tej Sareen (Chandrachur Singh) and three children Veer Sareen (Viren Vazirani), Aaru (Virti Vaghani) and Adi Sareen (Pratyaksh Panwar), the youngest one in the house.
Tej runs a Pharmaceutical Firm with his partners Sangram (Ankur Bhatia) and Jawahar (Namit Das). Sangram is younger brother of Aarya whereas Jawhar is best friend of Sangram.
Aarya’s Mother Rajeshwari (Sohaila Kapur) also lives with her because her husband Jorawar (Jayant Kripalani) remarries with a quite young gril Radhika aka Rads (Flora Saini) and lives with her without divorcing her first wife.
Rajeshwari still love and care Jorawar whenever he comes to meet her but hates Rads and don’t let go any chance to humiliate her.
Jorawar has a bodyguard named Daulat (Sikandar Kher) to whom he faith more than his own son Sangram. Jorwar used to grow Opium and making medicines and drugs out of it. He mixed legal business with some illegal drugs.
Now Tej, Sangram and Jawahar are looking after the business. Sagnram want to make money by illegal means and Jawahar appears to support him. However, Tej does not want to make drug business yes illegal activities are there in his company.
Marriage of Soundarya (Priyasha Bhardwaj), younger sister of Aarya, is fixed with Bob (Alexx ONell), a foreigner, who is a musician and wants to make fusion of Bhagwat Geeta.
Sangram (Ankur Bhatia) manages to filch three bags of drugs of 300 Cr. from a big drug mafia Shekhawat (Manish Choudhary) by killing his two henchmen. Since Shekhawat is a dreaded gangster and moreover he has a good deal of business with Tej’s Firm, he asks Sangram to return the drugs.
However, the incident takes place during the marriage of Soundarya. Since Tej is now fed up the illegal business of Sangram and Jawahar he wants to quit India and settle down in New Zealand as per Aarya’s wish.
Tej also tells Aarya about his decision, on the day of Soundarya’s marriage and informs her to leave the country soon.
After a few days while Tej is ready to go somewhere, his youngest son Adi insists to go with him. While Tej is not ready to take Adi with him Aarya asks him to run after his dad before he stars the car.
Adi run after his father only to witness a biker with hidden face (wearing helmet) shots dead his father.
Aarya’s life takes a U turn after the murder of her husband. Her brother Sangram is arrested for murdering Shekhawat’s henchmen. Moreover, ACP Khan (Vikas Kumar), from Narcotics department, makes her life like a hell. He asks Aarya to hand over a Pen Drive that contains all the secret of illegal business of Tej.Â
ACP Khan is a gay and has the password of the missing pen drive. Aarya does not know about any pen drive. However, soon she get the pen drive in the pocket of coat worn by Tej at the time of he was shot dead.
However, Aarya does not have the password and hence she could not access to the pen drive content. ACP Khan also raid at her house but found nothing.Â
Tej is shot dead by an unknown biker, wearing helmet. Tej’s youngest Son becomes the key witness of the incident. However, after Tej is shot dead, Aarya faces a series of threats. Sangram is arrested by Police and Jawhar is playing a foul game.Â
Shekhawat, the drug mafia king, asks Aarya to give 100 Cr (1/3 share of the lost drug packets worth 300 Crores). Aarya denies and received a threat from Shekhawat.Â
Aarya meets Shekhawat and tells her inability to pay such a huge amount. Shekhawat then ask her to take a drug assignment and transport the same throughout the border.Â
Shekhawat also kidnaps Aaru, 2nd child of Aarya that compels her to do the assignment for which she has to manage many things in her favour. However, ACP Khan is following her at every step.
Rest of the story should not be disclosed otherwise it would spoil the mood of watching the entire series.
The story depicts the crime drama and Aarya’s journey to find the real culprit behind the murder of her husband. The series also shows her conflict with big criminals and drug mafia and her fight to save her family.
Sushmita Sen has chosen a good script for her comeback. ‘Aarya’ revolves around Aarya Sareen (Sushmita Sen). The story depicts how she tacked every problem single handedly with fear to lose his family.
‘Aarya’ is a Crime Thriller and the screenplay is written almost perfectly. Direction is also above average and compels the audience to watch the entire series.Â
The script writer and director have successfully keeps the suspense alive till the last episode. Though guess work of audience might work for them yet guessing the real culprit will definitely be hard for you.
Sushmita Sen has shown her wings after a long time and she has proved that she can do Oskar winning performances. She has taken the entire series on her shoulders.
Vikas Kumar as ACP Khan has done a great job as typical Honest Indian police officer who does everything to grab the culprit.
Manish Choudhary as Shekhawat has never let you believe that he is not a real criminal. He behaves like real criminal in real time. It seems he has lived with the character.
However, after Sushmita Sen, the real acting gem is Sikandar Kher. His silent acting will definitely impress the audience. I guess best acting of Sikandar Kher till date even without having much dialogue to deliver.
Chandrachur Singh gets a very small role to play. However, he looks refreshing. Rest of the actors including child actors have done well.
‘Aarya’ is a fantastic story of a woman who does everything to protect his family. Earlier this year Breath: Into the Shadows was also released on the same theme where a father (Abhishek Bachahan) does everything to protect his family.
However, Aarya is far better that Breath. The series is for those who want to spend quality time at home watching cinema but just remember the series contents adult contents.
IMDB viewers provide a rating of 7.9/10 (6449 Reviews). Bollywood Product also gives a similar rating of 8/10 due to the unique presentation of a simple story in a far convincing way.