Tag: Ram Madhvani

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Aarya Season 3 (Antim Vaar): Sushmita Sen Delivers A Ferocious Performance In This Bumpy Yet Engaging Finale

The fast-paced narrative coupled with the interpersonal relationships make this show worth watching.
  • Main Cast: Sushmita Sen, Ila Arun, Sikander Kher, Viren Vazirani, Aarushi Bajaj, Pratyaksh Panwar, and Vikas Kumar
  • Director: Ram Madhvani, Kapil Sharma and Shraddha Pasi Jairath
  • Producer: Endemol Shine India and Ram Madhvani Films
  • Music Director: Vishal Khurana
  • Cinematography: Kavya Sharma
  • Rating: 3
  • Published in: Southfirst

The final part of season 3 begins with Sushmita Sen’s Aarya getting further entangled in the web of crime. The heroin has been caught by the cops and Aarya is desperate to get it back.

Nalini Sahiba (Ila Arun) and Abhimanyu (Shashvat Seth) are after her, besides a Russian drug dealer, Mikhail. On one hand, you have Aarya devising ways on how to deal with her new enemies, and on the other, she has lost the trust of her three children and the cracks are becoming wider.

Adding to the spice is ACP Khan (Vikas Kumar). He is on an intense hunt to find evidence against Aarya and finish the drug empire. The rest of the story is about whether Aarya can win back her children’s trust and what will be her end.

Much like the previous seasons, the biggest strength of this finale is the dynamics of Aarya with her offspring. While leading the business empire, Aarya is a formidable boss lady whom you don’t want to mess with. But with the children the matter is different.

There is a vulnerability and helplessness that comes out strongly. It is in these scenes that the show shines the brightest.

Fantastic Sushmita Sen

Sushmita Sen is fantastic in showcasing the various nuances. The actress shines the best in the portions where Aarya is down and out. The character of Aarya is no Mother India. She has her flaws, and some of her actions are questionable.

Among the youngsters, Aarushi Bajaj does most of the heavy lifting, her love story with Dhruv (Bhupendra) has some nice moments. The confrontation scenes between Aarya and the daughter have come out strongly.

Ila Arun, as Nalini Sahiba, also makes a strong impact. She is menacing without trying too hard. Shashvath Seth though goes way over the top with his antics. Sikander Kher as the loyal Daulat is fair. The same applies to Vikas Kumar. He continues to be earnest as a determined officer.

As mentioned above, the show has a fast-paced narrative. There are twists and turns at regular intervals with scenes of double-crossing. This keeps the viewers engaged. The use of tabla and Sanskrit shlokas as part of the background score also packs a punch.

What makes the finale a bumpy ride is the character of the son Veer (Viren Vazirani). The viewers had felt sympathy for him in the first part of the third season but here he comes as irritating with little to do.

He repeatedly talks about how his mother is responsible for the death of his fiancée Roop. This becomes tiresome after a point. Similarly, the writing comes with its share of loopholes.

Final take

Aarya Season 3 (Antim Vaar) is a treat for Sushmita Sen fans. It is great to see the actress doing solid work by getting roles she wouldn’t get in mainstream cinema. Both Aarya and Taali are reminders of how Sushmita Sen deserves better movie roles.

https://thesouthfirst.com/entertainment/aarya-season-3-antim-vaar-web-series-review/

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Aarya Season 3 Part 1: A binge-worthy web show propelled by Sushmita Sen’s roaring performance

Leaves you wanting more!

Aarya Season 3 (Hindi)

  • Cast: Sushmita Sen, Vikas Kumar, Indraneil Sengupta, Ila Arun, and Viren Vazirani
  • Director: Kapil Sharma, Shraddha Pasi Jairath, and Ram Madhvani
  • Producer: Endemol Shine India and Ram Madhvani Films
  • Music: Vishal Khurana
  • No. of episodes: 4
  • OTT platform: Disney+ Hotstar

Aarya web series is a significant part of Sushmita Sen’s career.

In the web show, Ram Madhvani brought out a very different side of the actress that the audiences weren’t used to. Her performance and the show were widely appreciated.

The second season turned out to be a worthy follow-up. Yes, the initial portions were a little sketchy, but the web series became more gripping as it went along.

Season 2 was mostly about how Aarya’s children dealt with the untimely death of their father Tej (Chachundur Singh).

An important subplot in the second season was depression and substance abuse through the character of Aarya’s daughter Aaru (Virti Vaghani).

Her son Veer (Viren Vazirani) had matured beyond his years and became a strong pillar of support for his mother and siblings. This also includes the youngest one Adi (Pratyakash Panwar).

Sushmita Sen played a grieving wife, a scared mother and also a tough woman dealing with the crime lords. The actress did a solid job of portraying all these shades.

Now you have Aarya Season 3 in two parts.

Season 2 ended with Aarya (Sushmita Sen) becoming a don. The first person that she had gunned down was her biological father.

He had a hand in the death of her husband Tej. The first episode of Season 3 has a slight recap set to the song “Bade Acche Lagte Hain“. It was a song that Tej was hugely fond of.

Aarya Season 3 begins with her getting shot. From there, the story moves into a flashback mode and tells what happened four weeks earlier.

In the flashback, it is revealed that Aarya is planning to expand the drug business. She has become a complete lady don.

Her chief enemy is Sooraj (Indraneil Sengupta), whose biggest mission in life is to destroy Aarya.

Aarya Season 3 isn’t just about her struggle with the mafia gangs. It is also about the inner battle that Aarya is going through.

In the previous seasons, it was clearly shown that Aarya had no interest in being part of this world, but now, she is a don herself.

Aarya constantly justifies her actions by saying that whatever she is doing is a part of protecting her family.

Season 3 is essentially about the challenges that Aarya faces both as a lady don and also as a mother who is dealing with her rebellious children, particularly the elder son.

Taut writing

One of the strong aspects of season 3 is how the directors portray the struggles of Aarya. On one hand, she tries hard to be a successful businesswoman; on the other, she faces difficulties in being a good mother — the conflicts arising from these situations give the show some of its best moments.

Aarya raises her children amidst all this blood and gory. The loose morals and ethics around them inevitably have a psychological impact.

For example, a situation comes when the elder son picks a gun to avenge the death of a woman whom he dearly loves. This woman was pregnant with his child when she died.

The youngest of the lot gets involved in a brawl.

Directors Ram Madhavani, Kapil Sharma, and Shraddha Pasi Jararth have done a brilliant job in designing their characters.

Another strong point of Aarya Season 3 is its antagonist.

Indraneil Sengupta’s Sooraj is not an inherently bad man. There are times when we see him being vulnerable, and there are a couple of tender moments too.

Indraneil Sengupta does a fantastic job of portraying both the ruthlessness and the ache of a husband who has lost his wife.

Ila Arun as Nalini Sahiba has a brief role, but the senior actress packs a strong punch whenever she is on screen.

Nalini Sahiba is a mini antagonist who will have a bigger space in Part 2 of Seasons 3.

Sushmita Sen is spellbinding

The scenes between Sushmita and the elder son (Viren Vazirani) have also been written with much depth. Viren particularly stands out in the confrontation scenes.

Sushmita Sen once again shows why she deserves meatier roles in films with this roaring performance. The actress makes the transformation from a scared mother to a lioness in a seamless manner.

Sushmita not only brings in the required authority with her body language but is equally effective in showcasing the vulnerable side of Aarya.

In the technical department, Vishal Khurana’s background score stands out the most. His background score plays a big part in elevating both dramatic and action bits.

There are a couple of areas where the directors could have done a better job. One of them is the characterisation of Sikander Kher, who gets minimal screen time this time.

Also, Vikas Kumar as ACP Yonous Khan doesn’t offer anything new with his portrayal.

Verdict

Part 1 of Aarya Season 3 ends with a thrilling cliffhanger, which increases the expectations of the audience.

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Dhamaka: Watch It For Karthik Aryan And The Thrills

In his short career so far Ram Madhvani has proved his worth as a director with works across genres. In both Neerja and Let’s Talk the director made use of the limited space and kept you thoroughly engrossed. He has casted actors against the type and drawn wonderful performances from them. For example Sonam Kapoor delivered her career best performance in Neerja. Similarly Sushmita Sen got a rare author backed role in the web series Aarya, the actress made complete use of that opportunity.

In Dhamaka, Ram Madhvani places his bet on Karthik Aryan. Karthik is someone who is best known for his boy- next door image thanks to films like Luka Chhupi and Pati Patni Aur Woh. Many eyebrows were raised when the announcement came of these two working together. However, after watching Dhamaka it becomes clear that Karthik has reinvented himself as Arjun Pathak. For those who are not aware the film is a remake of the South Korean one Terror Live.

Dhamaka begins on a romantic note with Arjun Pathak recalling the lovely moments that he has spent with his wife Saumya Mehra Pathak (Mrunal Thakur). This sequence sets up the story nicely. As the story progresses we come to know that Arjun Pathak was a prime time anchor on a popular news channel, However, he has now been demoted to a Radio Jockey in the same media house. On the personal front too things aren’t going too well as his marriage is on the brink of divorce. One day a random caller Raghubir Mehata ( Soham Majumdar) calls and threatens to blow up the Mumbai sea link bridge. Arjun Pathak doesn’t take it seriously and thinks that it is a hoax. However, he later realizes that it isn’t a hoax and things start getting out of control. Just like A Wednesday initially we think that the caller is a terrorist but he turns out to be a common man with anger against the government. His father was a construction worker. This is just a summary of the story.

One of the most striking aspects of Dhamaka is how Ram Madhvani uses the location of the newsroom. The story is mostly confined to the newsroom. The director once again shows his ability in capturing the emotions within a confined space.  The multiple cameras set up are used effectively by the director. This can be particularly seen during a breaking news scenario.

Another thing that keeps you engrossed is the dilemmas of Arjun Pathak. He is reporting a terrorist attack from the newsroom and negotiating with a man who is responsible for it. On the other hand, his wife Saumya Mehra is reporting live from the site and is helping hostages. All this keeps you engaged throughout. Mrunal Thakur’s Saumya Mehra is a righteous journalist whose values are different from Arjun. Mrunal has a short role but she serves her purpose well as the moral compass.

Dhamaka tries to tackle many things at once. You have corrupt ministers, the angst of the common man, the business of selling news, the world of TRPS etc. These are too many things to handle and the strain of it eventually shows, but the relevance of these issues can’t be ignored either.


The biggest ace of the film though is Karthik Aryan’s performance. Arjun Pathak is a far departure from the usual Karthik Aryan roles. There are a lot of nuances to the character and Karthik Aryan does absolute justice to it. It is a treat to watch the actor embracing the grey shades of the role.

One of the major flaws of Dhamaka is its inability to sustain after a thrilling start. The film begins off with a high note; it is successful in establishing the story without wasting any time but as the plot progresses a sense of monotony creeps in. Another issue is that the supporting characters are one note types with no nuances. The biggest example of that is the character of Amruta Subhash. She plays an assertive boss who only cares for TRPS. It is a part which comes across as too loud. The supporting characters in Neerja and Aarya were far better than what you see here.

In the final analysis, Karthik Aryan delivers a Dhamaka performance but the same cannot be said about the film.