Director: Ram Madhvani
Cast: Sushmita Sen, Ila Arun, Vikas Kumar, Sikander Kher, Geetanjali Kulkarni, Indraneil Sengupta, Maya Sarao, Vishwajeet Pradhan
Where: Streaming now on Disney+Hotstar
Rating: 3 stars
The tagline of the show suggests, ‘never hunt a wounded tigress.’ Season 3 of the much-loved Sushmita Sen-fronted show Aarya, sees the actress return as Aarya Sareen, an unforgiving ‘working mother’ as she calls herself, who will travel any length to protect her family.
The stakes this season get higher as Aarya awaits deeper trouble. While she gets her hands dirtier as she digs deep within the existing drug network, she has to ensure that her detractors including ACP Khan (Vikas Kumar) and Suraj (Indraneil Sengupta with a vengeance) are kept on their toes. As situations around her dial up to a handful, Aarya has a new nemesis in Nalini (a saucy Ila Arun) waiting to put an end to her game.
Based on the Dutch series Penoza, creator Ram Madhvani is joined by Kapil Sharma and Shraddha Pasi Jairath on direction duties to propel Aarya’s journey forward. Together, the three manage to elevate much of Aarya’s menace in season 3 as the extension of the character is written pretty effectively. Even as and when you watch Aarya going about silencing all those who are waiting to pounce on her and deem her powerless, you are constantly vouching for her to emerge out of every situation. While Sen continues to mouth most of her lines as if she is speaking in her slumber, she remains engaging because you’ve remained invested in Aarya’s journey since season 1. Watching her wield swords in a crucial scene certainly makes your jaws drop. The distinction that Sen invests in Aarya, sets her character apart from everything else that she has essayed in her career, therefore justifying the fanfare Aarya as a franchise holds.
But that does not mean it’s only Sen who’s having a ball here. Arun is a good match as the antagonist. While consecutive episodes of the season which premiere later, will allow us to understand Nalini’s motives, Arun does a fine good job at establishing her position in the equation. Kumar adds tension and unrest to his part as Khan, a man who is more than just determined to stop Aarya. Sikander Kher as Daulat is allowed a very limited screen-time to offer anything relatively new. Much of that can be blamed on the way the sub-plots of the season have been written.
A still from Aarya Season 3
Which brings me to point out that sadly, Aarya in its third season seems lost in wanting to pack in all the punches. Although the narrative is accompanied by an engaging background score, erected elaborately with each character dressed to impress and replete with effective action sequences, it’s the writing table here that seems to be running out of sub-plots as you watch much of the story, muddled in cliches. Like I mentioned earlier, only the remaining episodes will tell if the presumption stands true or not.
At least the promos that roll towards the end suggest so.
