Prakash Jha's maiden web series Aashram, featuring Bobby Deol revolves around blind faith and crooks masquerading as godmen
MUMBAI MIRROR (August 26, 2020)

Multiple National Award-winner Prakash Jha is known for telling stories that have a strong sociopolitical stance in the society. With films like Mrityudand, GangaaJal, Apaharan, Satyagraha, Raajneeti and Aarakshan among several others that resonate with the collective consciousness, he has proved to be one of the most prominent filmmakers of the country. And also one of the most controversial.

The critically-acclaimed filmmaker’s upcoming venture, Aashram, fronted by Bobby Deol, which also marks his debut in the web series space, will release on MX Player on August 28. The show is about how society gets conned by criminals masquerading as self-proclaimed godmen.

Talking about his maiden digital venture, Jha says, “It’s about common, innocent people who want some kind of anchor. They’re putting their trust in the so-called babas. Hindu dharm is too vast and strong, it has a plethora of saints and seekers, and there is so much knowledge and spiritualism. But these babas know nothing about dharm and they bring disrepute to Hindu dharm by masquerading as godmen and promise heaven to these innocent people.”

He points out that people ultimately put blind faith on self-proclaimed babas, who just want to exploit them. He adds, “It’s blind faith, put into the hands of almost criminal people because they use, exploit and use all kinds of false promises. I thought it’s a good take and people need to know what really is happening.”

On choosing Bobby Deol to play the protagonist, Jha says, “Bobby has never essayed a character like this before. So he was our first choice. Fortunately, he liked the subject, the challenges that his character brings as an actor and was keen to be a part of this storytelling.”