There’s a new Netflix Original show that portrays India sometime in the future (the year 2047) where technology is advanced, however, there’s a scarcity of water. Due to this, people have to buy water and the price is very high. The show revolves around an institution that has extremely orthodox and regressive views about society and religion. They work towards making women ‘pure’ and subject them to various kinds of humiliations.
The Plot
An institution named ‘Aryavarta’ arrests women who they believe have committed sins such as marrying someone who isn’t of their caste or giving birth to a child of mixed caste. ‘Aryavarta’ arrests these women and tries to turn them into ‘pure’ women by subjecting them to various degrading activities; polishing men’s shoes and rolling in their leftover food are some of the things the women are forced to do. The story follows Shalini (Huma Qureshi), a woman arrested by ‘Aryavarta’ for marrying a Muslim and having a child with him.
First Episode
The episode starts with Shalini (Huma Qureshi), her husband, and their daughter Leila playing in their pool (filled with the water they bought). Suddenly, a man breaks in and arrests Shalini after killing her husband. The show then skips to sometime in the future where Shalini is living in the rule of ‘Aryavarta’ with other arrested women. These women are forced to do different chores to wash away their ‘sins’ and are given some kind of drug every day.
The living condition of these women is very harsh as they are forced to bathe in dirty water due to the scarcity of water. While living in these harsh conditions, Shalini constantly experiences visions of her husband and talks about getting to her daughter. In order to do that, Shalini would first have to qualify for the purity test conducted by Guru Maa (Arif Zakaria) and then after passing the test, she will be free to go, however, it doesn’t end that easily.
I have seen the first episode of the first season of the show and I must say they have already got me hooked to it. The episode follows Shalini through some other crazy things which I’m not going to reveal here. You’ll have to check out the show for yourself to know what happens next.
The Cast
Huma Qureshi plays the main role of Shalini who is in search of her lost daughter. Shalini was arrested by the group called ‘Aryavarta’ for committing some sins according to their beliefs. The role of one of the leaders of ‘Aryavarta’, Guru Maa is played by Arif Zakaria. Arif Zakaria has proved in the past that his acting skills should not be doubted and after watching his performance in the first episode, I can say that his performance is very impressive.
Siddhartha Suryanarayan also stars in the series, he’s the actor who entertained us all with his role in ‘Chashme Baddoor’ . His character enters towards the end of the first episode and becomes the catalyst for a very important turn in the show. That’s all I can say about that and you’ll have to watch the show to uncover the rest of the story.
Popularity
Since the trailer was launched on YouTube, people were excited about the show and it generated a lot of hype. The first episode was released on Netflix on June 14th, 2019 and judging by the reaction of the people, it is clear that Leila is living up to our expectations.
The show seems promising and the story is engaging. The best thing about this show is that it’s getting people hooked within the first 10 minutes of the first episode. What is ‘Aryavarta’? Why is all this happening? Will Shalini find Leila? All these questions will be answered only by watching the show.