Indian mythology has a been a plot line for a number of films in Hindi cinema. At times, they succeed in getting the rhythm right, at times they don’t. While that has been happening, recently a show on an OTT platform not only managed to get that ‘sur’ right but just nailed it. I am talking about Asur.
The Oni Sen directorial has already received an 8.6 rating on IMDb and it was one of the reasons why I was keen to watch this one. Even after I binge-watched the show, I couldn’t get over it; there were so many thoughts that flooded my head. That is the charm of this psychological thriller which uses the remains of Hindu mythology as its base and perfectly presents it to its audience. While this thriller has brilliant performances by Arshad Warsi, Barun Sobti and Riddhi Dogra, one actor who managed to surely surprise me was Gaurav Arora.
Gaurav essayed the role of Kesar Bharadwaj and the mystery around his character kept me glued to my seat till the very end of the show. When I spoke to him, I first had to congratulate him for being a part of India’s first mythological thriller and he said,
I feel the makers didn’t make it with the thought that we’ll be the pioneer in the genre, it just happened. I mean how it happened to me is that when you come across something so well written, it’s also like making a love story. All the love stories have the same plot line. So when you keep doing it, in this case, it was so well written. The writing was very novel-ish, something what Dan Brown does, or in India, like Amish Tripathi. Of course, writing is the strength and now it makes sense and we feel good about it. I think season two will be a bigger challenge now.
Gaurav further spoke about how Sacred Games paved the way for others.
The feedback that the people are giving is that “It’s the baap of Indian web series”. At the same time, I am really thankful that a series like Sacred Games worked. You know, that was the start of the web in India in the big way. And because those things worked, it paved the way for everyone else. It’s exploding in India. Agar waha pe kuch problem hota toh it probably wouldn’t have worked in India. But having said that, it’s going to improve everything. It’s only going up from here on.
He also added that apart from films, the birth of OTT has only given rise to greater content.
When it comes to films, we can only do specific things. Thankfully we have a platform where we can tell different stories, where there is no censorship as such. While the show did have mythological traces, at no point will you feel bad about it. I mean, it’s written very carefully in a way that it doesn’t say anything bad about any community or any religion that way.
Now that Asur has ended on such a crucial point, I wanted to know what to expect from season 2 and he immediately replied,
I don’t think I have the liberty to talk about that yet. But since season one has done so well, Asur 2 is going to be bigger and better, also in terms of production value. I also think that there is going to be more pressure on the writers now. I feel they have something in mind but we’ll only know with time.
Gaurav has been a successful model and now an actor par excellence. After delivering such a noteworthy performance on the show, ask him what’s on the platter now and he says,
After Asur, I did Broken But Beautiful. So for me, that was a different character a different zone altogether. Like the boy next door. And then there is something I have already shot for, but then again they have told me not to talk about it right now because it’s too early. It’s something in the web space only. There is so much work pending out there. When I came to Bombay I had the dreams of becoming a star and now it’s all changed. You just want to work on your craft. Right now, it’s all about doing good work and I am in love with the craft.
It certainly looks like Gaurav is here to stay and I, for sure, am waiting to see this talented actor surprise me yet again with his upcoming projects. What about you?