Aarya is an Indian crime-thriller drama television series on Disney+ Hotstar, co-created by Ram Madhvani and Sandeep Modi, who also directed the series, with Vinod Rawat, serving as the co-director. Produced by Madhvani under the banner Ram Madhvani Films, along with Endemol Shine Group, it stars Sushmita Sen in the title role and is based on the Dutch drama series Penoza (nl). The series is about Aarya, an independent woman who seeks to protect her family and joins a mafia gang in order to get revenge for her husband's murder. Recently, the show has been nominated for International Emmy Awards for best Drama series.
Madhvani bought the remake rights to the series in early 2011, and planned to adapt it into a feature film in 2014. However the film was eventually shelved due to casting and budgetary issues. He decided later to direct it instead as a web series for Hotstar's original content label Hotstar Specials. Filming for the first season began in December 2019 and ended in March 2020, with the series been filmed across Mumbai, Jaipur, Udaipur and Palgadh. The cinematography is handled by Harshvir Oberoi and editing was done by Khushboo Raj and Abhimanyu Chaudhary. Vishal Khurana K composed the background score and the songs.
Aarya was initially slated to release on 29 March 2020, but was postponed due to delay in post-production work. It was released on Disney+ Hotstar on 19 June 2020. The series marked the comeback of Sushmita Sen, as well as her digital debut. It has received positive reviews with critics praising Sen's performance. Sen received the award for Best Actress – Female, at the Filmfare OTT Awards, with the series receiving eight nominations. In July 2020, Sushmita Sen and Ram Madhvani announced the second season of the series.
The second season started filming on 1 March 2021 in Jaipur, but having been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, wrapped up in June 2021. Season 2 premiered on 10 December 2021. The first half of Season 3, consisting of 4 episodes, premiered on 3 November 2023; the second half of Season 3, consisting of the remaining 4 episodes, premiered on 9 February 2024.
Premise The story of Aarya centres on Aarya Sareen, a caring mother and loving wife. However, she is quite naive and unaware of the illegal business her husband is involved in. Things take a turn for the worse for the family after Aarya's husband, Tej Sareen — a pharmaceutical tycoon — is mysteriously killed. The drug mafia and illegal syndicates seek to kill his entire family. In response, Aarya joins the gangs. The show traces her journey to becoming a mafia queen seeking revenge against those who killed her husband. Throughout, she also takes care of her three children.
Cast Sushmita Sen as Aarya Sareen (Main Character), Udayveer and Rajeshwari's daughter, Tej's widow, Shekhawat, Nandini, Sangram and Saundarya's half-sister and Veer, Arundhati and Aditya's mother Chandrachur Singh as Tej Sareen, Aarya's husband and Veer, Arundhati and Aditya's father (Season 1, cameo in Season 2) Viren Vazirani as Veer Sareen, Aarya & Tej's 1st child Bhupendra Jadawat as Dhruv season 3. Virti Vaghani as Arundhati "Aru" Sareen (Seasons 1, 2) Aarushi Bajaj as Arundhati "Aru" Sareen (Season 3), Aarya & Tej's 2nd child Pratyaksh Panwar as Aditya "Adi" Sareen, Aarya & Tej's 3rd child Jayant Kripalani as Zorawar Singh Rathore, Rajeshwari's husband, Aarya's stepfather, Sangram and Saundarya's father Sohaila Kapur as Rajeshwari Singh Rathore, Aarya, Sangram and Saundarya's mother Flora Saini as Radhika "Rads", Zorawar's girlfriend (Season 1) Ankur Bhatia as Sangram Singh Rathore, Aarya's half-brother, Hina's love interest, Tej's business-partner and Jeet's father Sugandha Garg as Hina Khan, Aarya and Maya's best friend, Sangram's love interest, Jeet's mother Priyasha Bhardwaj as Saundarya Singh Rathore - Wilson, Aarya's half-sister and Bob's wife (Season 1) Alexx ONell as Bob Wilson, Saundarya's husband (Season 1) Sikandar Kher as Daulat, Rathore's loyal hitman Tariq Vasudeva as Prakash Kedia, Rathore's accountant (Season 2, Season 3) Namit Das as Jawahar Bishnoi, Maya's husband and Tej's Business Partner (Season 1) Maya Sarao as Maya Bishnoi, Aarya and Hina's best friend, Jawahar's wife Pallas Prajapati as Apu, Jawahar and Maya's son Manish Choudhary as Shekhawat, Udayveer's son, Aarya's half-brother (Season 1) Akash Khurana as Udayveer Shekhawat, Aarya, Shekhawat and Nandini's biological father (Season 2) Charu Shankar as Nandini Shekhawat, Udayveer Shekhawat's daughter (Season 2) Atharva Sharma as Rehaan, Udayveer Shekhawat's grandson and Nandini - Sooraj's son (Season 2) Lavishka Gupta as Reva, Udayveer Shekhawat's granddaughter and Nandini - Sooraj's daughter (Season 2) Vishwajeet Pradhan as Sampat, Shekhawat's former loyal hitman Vikas Kumar as ACP Younus Khan Nishank Verma as Ajay Sharma (ACP Khan's Boyfriend) Jagdish Purohit as Bhairon Singh (Season 1) Geetanjali Kulkarni as Sushila Shekhar (Season 2, Season 3) Shweta Pasricha as Roop, Paana's girlfriend (Season 2), Veer's girlfriend (Season 3) Joy Sengupta as Indrajeet Sarkar, transport in-charge (Season 1) Gargi Sawant as Pallavi, Veer's girlfriend (Season 1) Richard Bhakti Klein as Larry Wilson, Bob's father (Season 1) Girish Sharma as Mr. Rungta, Rajasthani businessman interested in buying Tej's factory (Season 2) Dilnaz Irani as Advocate Shefali Gupta (Season 2) Kalp Shah as Aarav Dhariwal, Adi's friend (Season 2) Shataf Figar as Arjun Dhariwal, Aarav's father (Season 2) Shabaaz Abdullah Badi as Vineet Poddar, Aarya's Personal Secretary after Kedia's Death(Season 3) Junaid Khan as Kabir, Sangram's manager (Season 2) Ashok Pathak as Gopi, Rathore's loyal hitman and Sangram's murderer (Season 2) Ila Arun as Nalini Sahiba, a heroin supplier (Season 3) Indraneil Sengupta as Sooraj Raizada, Udayveer’s son in-law and Nandini’s husband (Season 3)
Episodes
Season 1 (2020)
Season 2 (2021)
Season 3 (2023-24) No. overallNo. in seasonTitleDirected byWritten byOriginal release date181"Kahani Abhi Khatam Nahi Hui Hain" Ram Madhvani Vinod Rawat Kapil Sharma Sanyuktha Chawla Shaikh Anu Singh Choudhary3 November 2023In her quest to safeguard her children, Aarya, the crime lord, is determined to achieve absolute dominance over the drug trade. However, she faces formidable challenges in the form of a vengeance-driven vendetta and Khan's relentless pursuit.192"Galti Ki Saza Maut" Ram Madhvani Vinod Rawat Kapil Sharma Sanyuktha Chawla Shaikh Anu Singh Choudhary3 November 2023Aarya finds herself confronted with an agonizing dilemma: she must choose between safeguarding her son's romantic relationship and shielding her family from the Russians' threats. Simultaneously, Sooraj resorts to brutal methods, subjecting Roop to torture in his relentless pursuit to bring about Aarya's downfall.203"Sherni Ka Shikar" Ram Madhvani Vinod Rawat Kapil Sharma Sanyuktha Chawla Shaikh Anu Singh Choudhary3 November 2023Aarya faces a dire situation with the menacing heroin suppliers, Nalini Sahiba and Abhimanyu, who issue a grave threat unless the consignment is recovered. As she embarks on her mission to track down Sooraj, she grapples with challenges from both her sons and Khan.214"Bali Ya Balidaan" Ram Madhvani Vinod Rawat Kapil Sharma Sanyuktha Chawla Shaikh Anu Singh Choudhary3 November 2023Sooraj's relentless pursuit to locate Nandini's remains drives him to extreme measures. Meanwhile, Veer, Maya, Aarya, and Sooraj become entangled in a web of vengeance and remorse, binding them together in unexpected ways.
Production
Pre-production In late 2011, Ram Madhvani was reported to adapt the Dutch drama series Penoza as a feature film in collaboration with Endemol Shine Group. In August 2014, Madhvani approached Kajol to play the lead protagonist, who initially accepted after reading the script, and Ajay Devgn's production house Ajay Devgn FFilms, backed the project on the very same month. The film initially touted to be Kajol's return to Hindi films after four years, since her last release in 2010, However, due to financial reasons, Kajol opted out of the project and Madhvani later approached Madhuri Dixit and Kareena Kapoor, to play the lead, but neither of the actress were finalized. In May 2016, Madhvani decided to revive the project with Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, who was initially approached for the film, before finalising Kajol. However, filming got shelved a month before its start.
Development On 15 January 2019, the streaming platform Hotstar, announced its foray to original content production exclusively for the service, with STAR India, the parent company of Hotstar, tied up with 15 Indian filmmakers including Madhvani for creating the shows for its label called Hotstar Specials. Madhvani, later approached Sushmita Sen to play the protagonist, which was later titled as Aarya. The series marked Sushmita's comeback to films after a 10-year hiatus, and also marked her debut in digital platforms.
Casting and characters Sushmita Sen plays the role of Aarya Sareen, a strong woman who is ready to take bold steps in order to save and protect her family. Chandrachur Singh in Aarya plays the role of Tej Sareen, whom Aarya trusts the most. His business is named as Aaryasattava Pharmaceuticals which is a front of a big illegal business of transporting medical drugs. Sikander Kher plays the role of Daulat, who is the right-hand man of Aarya's father Zorawar. Sikander stated "Daulat is very protective about Aarya and is incredibly loyal to the family. You could say he is almost like the foot soldier of the family. He stays by her side and tries to protect her from whatever comes her way." In an interview with International Business Times, Namit Das stated "I play the character of Jawahar, and he has a lot of complexities in him he is one of the most greyish characters I have ever played in my career. Only after the completion of the shoot, I understood that he (my role) has a lot of prominence in the show. There are so many layers to the character." Jayant Kripalani plays the role of Zorawar, Aarya's father. Sohaila Kapur plays the role of Aarya's mother, while Viren Vazirani, Virti Vaghani and Pratyaksh Panwar appear as Aarya's children.
Filming The principal photography of the series started on 9 December 2019 at Jaipur in Rajasthan. A production unit stated that Sushmita had undergone more than 30 look tests for her role in the show. The shooting of the film took place across Jaipur, Udaipur, Mumbai and Palgadh, and the show creators chose real locations instead of building sets. Some other scenes involving the court, jail and factories were shot in Mumbai, and the team selected locations that could pass off as modern-day Jaipur.
The Zorawar Haveli, which belonged to Zorawar (Jayant Kripalani's character) was recreated at the Chomu Palace Hotel situated near Jaipur, where the wedding scenes been shot. Production designer Anna Ipe stated We shot in different sections of the complex, in a way that one would normally not see in films. A lot of details were taken care of during the propping of the spaces. He has things collected from a time gone by, and is also a hunter. Hence the use of dark wood tones and warm leather gave a kind of masculinity to the space."
Ipe, stated about the picturisation of Aarya's home in Mumbai, which was completely different from the Zorawar Haveli. "We took an empty shell, and converted it into a fully functional home for Aarya’s family. The most important thing was to ensure that the home was a reconstruction of the past of these five individuals, each with their own unique personalities." The character Maya's eclectic home was shot at the Avatar Bungalow in Mumbai.