Why ‘ASUR: Welcome to Your Dark Side’ a Mytho Thriller is a must-watch series?

Indian Thriller Web Series are catching up with the standards of foreign thriller series with original series like Sacred Games, Mirzapur, The Family Man and Breathe. But among these more popular contenders streaming in the giant platforms like Netflix & Amazon Prime Video there is one little known but one of the most sibylline, bewildering and invigorating Indian Web series ever, called Asur: Welcome to Your Dark Side.

Plot

As per streaming platform Voot Select captioned, “The sudden death of a priest right in front of his teenage son sends people in a frenzy. 11 years later, Nikhil Nair, a forensic expert teaching at the FBI HQ, receives coordinates of an unknown location from a mysterious source only to find out a completely mutilated, tortured and charred body back in India. With a killer responsible for a murder that can make even the toughest cops shudder on the loose, Dr Dhananjay Rajpoot, a forensic expert is set on a wild goose chase.”

It is a separate crime thriller that pits two opposite worlds against each other. This story depicts the less explored, complex world of forensic science and the deep spiritualism of old Indian mythology. The story set in the backdrop of the mystical city of Varanasi. It follows the story of Nikhil Nair (Barun Sobti), a forensic-expert who turned as a teacher. He returns to his roots at the CBI with his former mentor Dhananjay Rajpoot (Arshad Warsi) to find a psychopath serial killer. In this investigation, they find himself in a cat and mouse game with the killer who is too dangerous because he murders in the name of his religious beliefs. They are caught in a terrible situation during the investigation. How will it end? Will the real face of this killer aka Asur be revealed?

Here me giving you some compelling reasons on why to watch Asur: Welcome to Your Dark Side.

An Engaging Premise

Serial Killing is the most engaging thriller topic for any viewers, any of the show involving this topic, bound to catch your interest. The serial Killer in Asur is a brilliant person with tremendous IQ. He has a good knowledge of Mythology & Astrology but suffers from some uncommon problems through childhood. The story shows how he becomes Asur and what is the ultimate aim of that person. 

"This series is mysterious, delusional, hypnotizing, dangerous, gross, straightforward and a perfect on the edge of your seat thriller."

The quality of Story and Screenplay

The roots of any media content are the story and screenplay. This series excels in both. The story by Gaurav Shukla blends mythology and science together which is complemented by unsurpassable direction by Omi Sen. The narrative style of balancing various locations with different scenes and narrating the crime mystery through breaking the quintessential indian crime thriller stereotype lends it brownie points. In this show, you can’t guess the killer’s intension, the next step he is gonna take, and his ultimate goal to the end. The beauty of this web series is that despite its influence in the realm above and beyond just mortals it still keeps it’s human elements in place so that audience deeply connect with it.

A perfect blend of science, religion and mythology

Asur is not based on just one concept that you can understand in natural descriptive language. It cites cases of factual science with supernatural, astrological and mythological elements that may leave the audience in a dilemma of which side to vouch for (yeah pretty much like La Casa Da Papel aka Money Heist). But it surely is a good mixture of forensic science, mythology and religion, for which is why you will like this show a lot.

Excellent performance by the ensemble cast

Arshad Warsi and Barun Sobti are both lead actors who play forensic experts. Arshad Warsi effectively underlines his character in the role of forensic head Dhananjay Rajpoot aka DJ, who is himself embroiled in a lot of confusion. On the other hand, Barun Sobti excels as a forensic intelligence expert but somewhat obsessive with his profession. Anupriya Goenka and Ridhi Dogra are good. Sharib Hashmi is as reliable as any of the supporting characters. 

But Vishesh Bansal, who plays the younger version of the killer, will send chills down your spine. 

His stoic gaze in monotone delivery creates a lot of intrigue about the young boy, a character with Hyperlexia and lack of social skills are tough traits for a young actor like him, but my god he does such a phenomenal job.

A complete package of thrill and mystery

When you watch a series about a serial killer, you expect a lot of twists and turns, and it should be. Asur has a large number of twists and turns which will make you hooked to the show right from the beginning till the end. (I personally binge-watched the series in a span of 24 hours!) From taking the protagonist to the right junction to some astonishing surprises, the Asur has very riveting elements. If you like stories with mysteries and experts solving puzzles, then Asur is made for you.

The unpredictable trope of this thriller

Now I will tell you an exceptional reason why this web series stands out. Usually the predictable trope of crime thriller is that troubled individuals take revenge. They act out and the penultimate sequence showcases a flashback to justify those actions. But this one is not that, it doesn’t in anyway present things as black and white. It’s layers upon layers that make it even more compelling. When I saw the antagonist and the motivations, I could easily create parallels on why this series is spectacular. If we look at two of my favorite antagonists from celluloid, Moriarty from Sherlock (BBC series) and Joker from The Dark Knight; both possess a sense of calmness by causing chaos in society. They find their worthy opponent they find their weakness; they challenge them often loving and inviting their attention and most importantly even make the heroes question their own moral fabric and what they stood for. Asur precisely is that and I guarantee you it will make you dwell and dig deep into reading about several facets you may have never ever bat an eyelid for!