Asur (web series)

Asur is a 2020 Indian Hindi-language crime thriller web series, produced by Tanveer Bookwala of Ding Entertainment for the video on demand platform Voot.[2] The series stars Arshad Warsi, Barun Sobti, Sharib Hashmi and Amey Wagh. The series is set in the context of a modern day serial killer having religious ties. Arshad Warsi made his OTT debut through this series.[3]

Asur
GenreCrime
Mystery
Thriller[1]
Created byGaurav Shukla
Vibhav Shikdar
Developed by
  • Ding Entertainment
  • Viacom 18 Studios
Written by
  • Gaurav Shukla
  • Niren Bhatt
  • Abhijeet Khuman
  • Pranay Patwardhan
Directed byOni Sen
Starring
Country of originIndia
Original languageHindi
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes8
Production
ProducerTanveer Bookwala
Production locationsMumbai, India
Camera setupMulti-camera
Running time34-63 minutes
Production companyDing Entertainment
Release
Original networkVoot
Picture formatHDTV 1080i
Audio formatDolby Digital
Original release2 March 2020 (2020-03-02)

Plot

Set in the backdrop of the mystical city of Varanasi, Asur follows Nikhil Nair, a forensic-expert-turned-teacher, who returns to his roots at the Central Bureau of Investigation, and along with his former mentor Dhananjay Rajpoot, finds himself caught in a cat-and-mouse game with a brutal serial killer.[4] What follows is a blend of suspense, mythology and the murders of some people totally unrelated.

Concept

The concept is completely new. This web series has been created by adapting Hindu ancient history to the modern age. The whole team of a serial killer has been committing various murders on a regular basis, and despite the best efforts of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) team it has not been possible to stop these killings. This has not yet been fully disclosed Who is the mastermind of the murder, it may be known in Season 2.

Season 2 Prediction

The ending of Asur web series leaves many possibilities for the plot of the second season. The revelation that the real Shubh is still at large and has many allies who follow his commands means that the battle between good and evil will continue. Additionally, the murder of Lolark Dubey and the promotion of Nushrat suggests that there may be new characters entering the story in the next season.

Furthermore, the conflict between Dhananjay and Nikhil, with Nikhil blaming Dhananjay for his daughter's death, may result in a battle between the two characters. Dhananjay's suspension from duty may also play a role in the plot of the second season.

Overall, the ending of Asur leaves many unanswered questions and unresolved conflicts, which sets the stage for an intriguing plot for the second season.[5]

Cast
  • Arshad Warsi as Dhananjay "DJ" Rajpoot
  • Barun Sobti as Nikhil Nair
  • Anupriya Goenka as Naina Nair
  • Ridhi Dogra as Nushrat Saeed
  • Sharib Hashmi as Lolark Dubey
  • Amey Wagh as Rasool Shaikh/Shubh Joshi
  • Pawan Chopra as Shashank Awasthi
  • Vishesh Bansal as Teen Shubh Joshi
  • Gaurav Arora as Kesar Bhardawaj
  • Anvita Sudarshan as Raina Singh
  • Nishank Verma as Samarth Ahuja
  • Archak Chhabra as Aditya Jalan
  • Aditya Lal as Moksh
  • Deepak Qazir as Neelkanth Joshi
  • Bondip Sarma as Ankit Sharma
  • Jayant Raina as Radhacharan Joshi
  • Sunayna Baile as Lolark's Wife
  • Jay Zaveri as Sajid Sheikh

Episodes
No.TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal release date
1"The Dead Can Talk"Oni SenGaurav ShuklaMarch 2, 2020 (2020-03-02)
The episode starts with an 11-year-old story where a teen child named Shubh is seen performing puja rituals alongside his father and another person. His father, while returning in a boat with his son, drowns in the river and dies. The young child is emotionless and it is shown that the child presumably poisoned his father. The story moves on to the present, where a forensics expert, Nikhil Nair, is shown teaching at the FBI HQ. Later on, he is shown doing some dillydally with his wife Naina, arguing about the reasons to leave his job with the CBI, something which he deeply regrets. Meanwhile, in India, a murderer kills a woman and her charred body is found by the police the next day, whose autopsy is performed by Dhananjay "DJ" Rajpoot, a senior forensic expert in the CBI. The modus operandi of the murder reveals that a serial killer is on a murder spree, in which DJ's wife is also included.
2"Rabbit Hole"Oni SenGaurav ShuklaMarch 2, 2020 (2020-03-02)
The episode starts with a story set 18 years ago where a young Shubh is shown as a genius child, but he is cold, ruthless, and cruel. His father is shown calling him a demon or 'Asura'. In the present timeline, Nikhil comes back to work with the CBI, where he meets his former coworker and ex-girlfriend Nushrat. Towards the end of the episode, DJ receives an envelope containing a video in which the charred body is revealed to be that of his wife, Sandhya. Being directly related to the murder, DJ can't handle the case anymore and Nikhil takes over the case. But even before he could come to terms with the inconceivable loss, DJ is arrested for murdering his wife, based on Nikhil's calculation, and the camera pans out at the sight of a mysterious person witnessing all this.
3"Peek - a - boo"Oni SenGaurav ShuklaMarch 2, 2020 (2020-03-02)
The episode continues with another glimpse of the story set 18 years ago where it is revealed that Shubh shows symptoms of autism and has an IQ of 149, but is deeply ill-affected by his father's torturous behavior towards him. In the present timeline, with Dhananjay behind bars, Nikhil thinks it's all over until he gets 3 new coordinates from the same mysterious source. The killer follows the same pattern of thoroughly planned assaults targeted at random people at random locations.
4"Ashes from the Past"Oni SenGaurav ShuklaMarch 2, 2020 (2020-03-02)
The episode continues with the incident 11 years ago as it is shown that DJ was the person who was doing the puja rituals. While doing the puja, DJ finds something fishy about Shubh. After the death of the father, DJ tells everyone that he died due to poisoning and not drowning. In the present timeline, Nikhil almost succeeds in finding out the murderer's location, but an automated tranquilizer attack results in the killer successfully capturing Nikhil alive in a remote location with no access, and Dhananjay is behind bars. Meanwhile, Dhananjay tries to figure out how it's all connected.
5"The Devil has a Face"Oni SenGaurav ShuklaMarch 2, 2020 (2020-03-02)
The episode continues with an incident 11 years ago where Shubh is arrested and put behind bars for his father's murder. Shubh doesn't show much remorse and instead starts preaching from within the prison, as a wilful follower joins him and becomes his first disciple. At present, Dhananjay is tasked by the CBI to work on the case while in prison. During work on the case, he meets Kesar Bhardwaj, a motivational speaker on spiritualism. Naina arrives looking for Nikhil with their daughter Ria, though Nushrat is unable to calm her down when Dhananjay's team inadvertently reveals that Nikhil has gone missing. Dhananjay's colleague, Lolark, is sent by Dhananjay to Banaras and continues to dig into Shubh's background when Kesar figures out that Dhananjay's past may have something to do with it. Dhananjay, with his team, comprising Nushrat, hacker Rasool Shaikh, and a few other officers working directly under Lolark, tries to find the connection between the victims and concludes that they were all good people with no criminal records. Meanwhile, Nikhil, fearing Naina and their daughter Ria's safety, helps the killer murder a neuroscientist. A mysterious clue occurs to Dhananjay, who realizes that Nikhil is alive and he has contributed to the murder.
6"The Firewall"Oni SenGaurav ShuklaMarch 2, 2020 (2020-03-02)
10 years ago, Shubh gets arrested and is in jail. Lolark inquires with the retired police officer. The officer tells him that Shubh drew pictures of many asuras and read many scriptures. Lolark then went to meet Shubh's grandfather, from whom he finds out that Shubh was born on the day of the devil's birth despite his father wanting him to be born the day Demi-Gods are born. This is why Shubh was always called devilish, and this hate motivated him to kill his father. Lolark shares this information with Dhananjay, who says they need to find out what kind of devil he is trying to be to understand his thought process. In the present, Nikhil is given another victim, Aditya Jalan, a famous businessman who generously wishes to donate a major share of his property to charity. Kesar helps Dhananjay by reading the horoscopes of all the victims and finding out they belong to a specific Hindu zodiac sign. Dhananjay, with help from Naina, is able to hack into the firewall of the NIC, which gives the date, place, and time of birth of people. From this, Dhananjay realizes that the next victim is Jalan. When Dhananjay gets a call from the killer saying that he knows he's trying to save Jalan from getting killed, this causes Dhananjay to convince Jalan to cancel his engagement, but Jalan rebuffs the warning. Dhananjay then enhances the security arrangements; realizing this, Nikhil plans a counterplot, though another counterplot is initiated by Dhananjay. Nikhil, however, finds another counterplot, which ultimately results in Jalan being killed the same way during the engagement party.
7"Let There be Darkness"Oni SenGaurav ShuklaMarch 2, 2020 (2020-03-02)
Dhananjay, aggrieved at his failure to save Jalan, seeks Kesar's help again and finds out that the victims were born under a certain star. Knowing that the killer could very well come after him, Dhananjay stakes himself and asks Naina to manipulate the NIC database in order to get the killer to promptly plan his murder. Initially reluctant, Naina agrees. She receives a connected call from Nikhil and is relieved to find out he is alive, but the kidnapper cuts the call short. Parallel to this, a flashback shows that Nikhil met Shubh in prison and promised him that he would help him. Shubh responds by assuring him that he will be back. Nikhil gets a hint of his kidnapper and realizes that it may be Shubh, but he is unable to speak to him at all.
8"End is The Beginning"Oni SenGaurav ShuklaMarch 2, 2020 (2020-03-02)

10 years earlier, Nikhil finds out that DJ had framed the evidence to send Shubh to prison, which is the reason why Nikhil resigned from the CBI. At present, Nikhil is assigned DJ as the next victim and tells the killer that he has to go to jail to kill him since the central jail has high surveillance. The killer gets into the jail and as plotted, reaches DJ and is about to kill him, but gets tied up by DJ instead. Since the killer is in jail, Nikhil finds a way to escape jail. There, the killer reveals there are many Shubhs and not one, prompting DJ to conclude that Kesar is the mastermind who murdered his wife. Additionally, a female journalist, a Hindu preacher, and an Islamic preacher are locked in a chamber with only 12 hours of oxygen supply available. Naina has, meanwhile, left Ria to the care of a house helper.

Meanwhile, Lolark spots a deep scar on Rasool's hand, and along the highway, he questions Rasool again, but Rasool, in turn, has his college friends speak to Lolark about him, which somewhat convinces Lolark. By this time, Nikhil manages to escape the killer's custody by mapping his fingerprints on a water tumbler and putting them in the biometric machine but is unable to do anything to save the captives. The Islamic preacher tries to convince the Hindu Preacher to kill the female journalist, but the Hindu Preacher disagrees, in response to which the Islamic preacher tries to strangle the Hindu Preacher to death, even as the female journalist comes forward to stop them both from killing each other. Lolark and Rasool successfully discover the killer's hideout, when Lolark stumbles upon a notebook in Rasool's bag and finds out that the drawings in his notebook are the same as what Shubh's grandfather gave him. Rasool reveals that he is actually Shubh in disguise and the commander of a spiritual cult where multiple people follow his preachings, Kesar turning out to be one of them. Kesar, upon being confronted, makes DJ confess what he did with the evidence against Shubh and compels him to self-harm, in return for telling the location of the journalist and the preachers. Eventually, it is revealed in a flashback that Kesar is actually Shubh's first disciple, the wilful one who joined him in prison. Shubh ties up Lolark after attacking him brutally and contacts Nikhil when he reunites with Naina upon discovering the location of the captives. DJ collapses after consuming the tablets offered to him by Kesar, which increased his heartbeat and blood pressure significantly, but Nushrat and the officers are able to rescue him. With time running out, Shubh offers Nikhil on phone the option of choosing between Ria and the captives, and Nikhil, exasperated, sacrifices Ria, who is revealed to have died through the house helper, shown to be one of Shubh's followers, who spiked the food she was eating. Unsuccessful in bringing out the selfishness in Nikhil, Shubh shoots Lolark dead. However, the female journalist suddenly grabs a pistol from one of the lady officers and shoots the Islamic preacher dead. DJ's revelation spews another rivalry between Nikhil and DJ since it was DJ's mistake 10 years ago that led to all these killings and thus, Ria's death, in the form of revenge. Finally, the camera pans out as Shubh has one last stare at DJ, hinting at an unfinished business, i.e. an upcoming season.

References
  1. "Asur review: Arshad Warsi, Barun Sobti show mixes up CID with Sacred Games for a pulpy new offering". Hindustan Times. April 2, 2020. Archived from the original on 2020-03-03.
  2. "Asur first impression: This thriller holds promise". Indian Express. March 5, 2020. Archived from the original on 2020-03-05.
  3. "Arshad Warsi makes his digital debut with Asur". India Today. March 4, 2020. Archived from the original on 2020-03-05.
  4. "Asur Review: Arshad Warsi and Barun Sobti starrer is gripping and will keep you hooked on to it till the end". PINKVILLA. Retrieved 2020-03-23.
  5. "Asur Web Series Season 2 Predictions". telegra.ph. Retrieved 2023-03-01.
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