Aarya is a well-made adaptation of a Dutch show called Penoza.The show is set in Rajasthan and uses erstwhile royalty as the powerful opium and drug mafia.

Aarya is married to Tej and they have a daughter and two sons and Arundhati, Veer and Adi.

Sangram and Soundarya are Aarya’s younger siblings.

Hukum Zorawar, their father appears not to take a very active role in the business. He is estranged from his wife Rajeshwari and enamoured of his physiotherapist Rads.

Daulat is Zorawar’s major domo. Everyone depends on him.

Jawahar is a family friend.

Jawahar’s wife Maya and Sangram’s girlfriend Hina are Aarya’s best friends.

Hukum Shekhawat is their rival in business and they have all agreed to keep off each other’s turf.

Sampat is Shekhawat’s henchman in chief.

ACP Khan- A cop from the Narcotics, determined to crack this case.

Tej-peace loving brother-in -law is manages and holds together the ticking bomb that are ambitious and volatile Sangram and Jawahar in the mostly black some white family pharmaceutical business which involves guns and poppies. The younger two defy Tej, breach a few unwritten rules and their actions have unexpected and bloody consequences

Aarya, on the other hand, while living off the business for 17 years, wants out and gives Tej an ultimatum. He promises that he will and works towards that-but the best laid plans as we all know, go belly up in a trice.

He ends up dead and a tangled web of debts, deceit and deaths descends on Aarya to untangle. She now has to make tough choices about the business for the sake of her family. And she does so, in the process discovering some very unpalatable truths about them, as well as exhibiting the same ruthlessness when needed.

Round one goes to her.

There is no clutter in the story or the cast of characters. Each is important and fleshed out to the degree required (though, I really would love a back story on Daulat.)

When I say no drama-Rajeshwari- the first wife spouts pure venom at Rads. It makes you wince in places-so cutting are the words-but the voice is raised a little only once and be it anger, grief, affection-it’s the inflection and the expressions which say it all. Sohaila Kapoor plays this role to perfection.

The bent, shuffling, loving Nanu sa, Hukum Zorawar Rathore-the ever likeable Jayant Kripalani acting without his usual affectations of speech for once is quite the surprise.  It took me a few minutes to confirm that it was actually him.

Manish Chaudhary-Shekhawat-the other hukum is openly ruthless but suave and sophisticated. (Soft corner alert!)

Their henchmen were my favourites-Daulat-Sikander Kher for Hukum. Worth his weight in gold, a true wealth, for his quiet reassuring presence and taking care of everything and everyone. His loyalty is unwavering but also forthright-as we see in the end. I really would like to see more of Sikander Kher in films and such.

Sampat-Vishwajeet Pradhan is the anti-thesis of Daulat. but just as valuable to Shekhawat. He is loud, menacing and utterly trustworthy.

Both are trained, ruthless and cold blooded in following their orders-yet a soft, compassionate streak co-exists and makes them truly likeable. Ironically-they have the most blood on their hands.

Sangram-Aarya’s hot headed brother is played by Ankur Bhatia. He does the young, privileged, rich guy with a skewed sense of right and wrong to the T.

Namit Das-coke head Jawahar and the third partner in the business is untrustworthy, slimy and reminded me in several scenes of Peter Pettigrew-Scabbers from Harry Potter. Despicable, slimy and what a great acting job.

ACP Khan-Vikas Kumar the dogged Narcotics officer is pleasant and a fair irritant to Aarya who has plenty to hide. The good, honest, by the book cop shines through.

Tej, The doting husband and father is played by the charming Chandrachur Singh who does it wonderfully. The slight paunch, an apologetic smile, dreamy sleepy eyes, fooling around with his kids and serenading his wife with old Bollywood songs, he also manages to stash away black money, run the drugs business well and generally keep the shady but lucrative side of things going too.

 Virti Vaghani as the poetic Aru, Viren Vazirani as the adolescent Veer and Pratyaksh Panwar as the traumatised Adi are wonderfully natural.

Sushmita Sen is the elegant, in control, tigress in defence of her young Aarya. Thus far, in season one, her transition from homemaker to wheeler dealer is just beginning and she has done well. One realises just how well she’s acting when in one scene, she is happy-her joyful, laughing smiling face lights up the screen immediately. At each treacherous discovery she makes, her expressions are calm but one can almost hear the mind clicking away, putting two and two together.

A story about crime, drugs and corruption often turns to being preachy and righteous towards society at large and about good and bad. None of that here. Aarya wanting to leave for example is more for their children and less about we are ruining millions of lives. In an interesting scene,Veer experiments with a drug and Aarya tell him it should be the last time-this while she is in the process of transporting heroin worth crores across the border, which would reach children and adults alike.

The cop too, doesn’t pontificate-he goes about doing his dogged best and his job and deals with the hurdles as he deems fit.

“Dharm” or “Duty” are cited as a reason for the many bodies that litter this story-some just being unfortunate collateral damage. I think greed and power would sum it up better.In the battle between good and bad, there are no absolutes and as Aarya says “kabhi kabhi choice sahi aur galat kin ahi, galat aur kam galat ki hoti hai.”

The show is “quiet”. There is no unnecessary drama or theatrics. Just the right amount of sound effects and emotion. The montage is in muted shades throughout except briefly in a wedding scene where too it adds just the right amount of colour for happiness-life after all is shades of grey as do people have their own shades, for their own reasons.

Ram Madhvani’s show is an entertaining watch and I look forward to Season 2 soon!I would recommend watching it with breaks. In a binge watch, we often miss out on nuances of expression and presentation.