Aarya Review: An enjoyable crime thriller series power-packed by Sushmita Sen

Aarya Review: An enjoyable crime thriller series power-packed by Sushmita Sen
Aarya series poster

Aarya Review: Sushmita Sen is dynamic and show-stealer in the series which lacks pace and thrill.

The Indian OTT platform Hotstar is known for adapting popular western shows and re-creating them. Shows like ‘Criminal Justice’ and ‘The Office’ are some of the examples. Earlier this year we saw a very successful crime-thriller Hotstar special series ‘Special Ops‘. Now, Hotstar is back with another crime-thriller and adapted series ‘Aarya’.

This Hotstar special series is indeed special in as it marked the comeback of two Bollywood veterans Sushmita Sen and Chandrachur Singh and they have definitely impressed us with their performances. The series is paced a little slow but keeps the viewers enthralled throughout. The National Award-winning director Ram Madhvani who also directed ‘Neerja’ leaves his own imprint on this one.

Aarya Review: Plot

Aarya in an adaptation of a dutch tv-series ‘Penoza’.  In very subtle words but deep emotions, this series brings out the message “In India, marriage is not between individuals but between two families” and that fact cannot be denied. The story of Aarya also is based Along these lines. Aarya played by Sushmita Sen, lives happily with her husband Tej played by Chandrachur Singh and her three children until Aarya’s brother and Tej’s business partner Sangram (Ankur Bhatia) gets into the illegal drug trade and steals drugs worth 300 crores puts many families into trouble.

After the consequential death of her husband, Aarya is forced to enter the evil and male-dominated world of the illicit drug trade. The courage which she displays is worth watching. Apart from the main plot, Ram Madhvani has given every character a story of its own. Jawahar played by Namit Das is one of the three business partners. Jawahar is one of the most vulnerable characters in the show. No one understands his feeling and what he’s been going through which makes him question his friendship.

Aarya’s three children have got their own stories as well. The elder son is in his youth and discovering his sexuality, meanwhile, her daughter Aaru after her father’s death finds relief in poetry and the youngest child Adi is having nightmares after the traumatic death of his father in front his eyes. ACP Khan played by Vikas Kumar is trying to bust the illegal business of illicit drug trade. The suspected villain of the story Shekawat seems absolutely ruthless before we get to see the real offenders, the evil Russian drug traffickers.

Technical aspects

The screenplay despite being a little slow, it brings a sense of authenticity. The premise was bang on but not very brilliantly improvised later on in the show. The casting has been done with great precision. The writing, adaptation and direction were the strongest aspects of the series. The music production team did a great job in intro music and also reminisced some old classic Hindi songs like ‘Bade Achhe Lagte Hain’ but failed to produce something unique. The show’s cinematography team also nailed it but there was not much from the special effects team.

Read: Aarya web series leaked for free download

Performances

Starting with the supporting cast we see some outstanding and effortless performances from Namit Das, Vishwajit Pradhan and Sikander Kher. It was a pain to see Maya Sarao’s world crumble in front of her. Like in ‘Thappar’, Maya is impressive here as well. Jayant Kripalani as Aarya’s father Zorawar was not one of the performances of the show but was satisfactory. Chandrachud Singh’s role was short but revolutionary. He made a perfect comeback that too with such ease.

The show-stealer was hands-down Sushmita Sen as Aarya. She re-enforced reasons for which we loved her in ‘Main Hoon Na’. She effortlessly played the character of a wife, a mother, a sister, a daughter and a businesswoman with such ease without losing her identity that it was unbelievable. In one word, Aarya is Sushmita’s show all the way.

Reasons To Watch

  1. Witness the sheer brilliance of Sushmita Sen’s acting and glamour. This is easily one of her best performances and will establish her as a legend.
  2. Some really good performances by the rest of the cast.
  3. Infuses nostalgia through music. If you are a 90’s person you are definitely going to love this.
  4. Detailing, direction, screenplay are few positives.

Reasons To Miss

  1.  Absence of any intriguing twists in the plot. The series proceeds in a kind of straight path without many turns. It gets a little predictable at times.
  2.  It might test your patience at times as each and every character has a lot of depth in their story.

Aarya Review: Verdict

Considering all the aspects of this series, both good and bad, we would rate this series 3/5. If you love thriller series, you can give it a try for Sushmita’s dynamic performance. Aarya is streaming on Disney+ Hotstar.

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