Aashram Chapter 2 review: Bobby Deol again steals the show, but Prakash Jha repeats some of his earlier flaws
First things first, the good news: Those who enjoyed Aashram, would be pleased to know that Aashram Chapter 2 The Dark Side is just as entertaining, with impressive performances all around and some sequences that remain etched in our psyche. That being said, is it an improvement over the first part (not season, as Director Prakash Jha made it clear in our exclusive interview that Chapter 2 is a continuation of season one, and the second season is due later)? The answer is, no. And as much as we adore Bobby Deol in arguably his career-best work as also the world that Prakashj Jha has built for his web series, we wish he could've ironed out some of the erstwhile errors.
What's it about
Aashram 2 picks up exactly from where season 1 left off. While Babita (Tridha Choudhury) formulates her own plan to get even with Kashipur Waale Baba Nirala (Bobby Deol) after he had deceitfully got her husband, Satti (Tushar Pandey), castrated, the reason behind Pammi (Aaditi Pohankar) rebelling at the end of the first part also becomes clear. Meanwhile, SI Ujagar Singh (Darsan Kumaar) and his subordinate, Sadhu Sharma (Vikram Kochhar) enter Baba Nirala's premises under pretense and the latter begins a game of musical chairs with the CM and his opposition. The culmination of all these plot points and the further cliffhangers they create form the rest of the nine episodes of this web show on MX Player.
What's hot
Once again, Bobby Deol is in red-hot form, continuing to etch a character that we love to hate but can't hate enough to not love some of his roguish charm. And true to form, everyone from Aaditi Pohankar, Chandan Roy Sanyal, Darshan Kumaar, Tridha Choudhury, Vikram Kochhar and Tushar Pandey to Anupriya Goenka, Jahangir Khan, Sachin Shroff, Anil Rastogi, Anurita Jha and Rajeev Siddhartha back him up to the hilt. The production design and cinematography are again on point as are the writing and Prakash Jha's direction for most parts. The narrative flows fluidly most of the time and the bumps, thankfully, never assume the size of roadblocks, ensuring Aashram Chapter 2 remains a pleasant watch.
What's not
Though the bumps aren't huge, it's somewhat annoying that a veteran of Prakash Jha's calibre couldn't iron out the flaws from his first outing with the show, particularly the ones involving repetitive sequences, filler scenes and unnecessary musical numbers, portraying a slightly outdated approach for today's audience. It's equally perplexing that his years of experience couldn't get his mini-army of writers (five in total) and editor to do a better job at trimming things down and keeping them crisp. It's almost like the team had a mandate to churn out nine episodes come what may. If not for these grievances, Aashram 2 would've been even better.
BL Verdict
It may be bogged down slightly by the same issues that held the web series back the first time around, but just like its first outing, Aashram Chapter 2 The Dark Side has more than enough going for it to ensure you overlook its flaws and strap in for some expose entertainment at the expense of conmen masquerading as Godmen.
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