There is an old adage: “The best things in life are free”. The saying can’t be truer for the highly adored TVF web series ‘Aspirants’, which is currently being streamed for free on TVF’s YouTube channel.
The series premiered on the channel on Wednesday, April 7, 2021, and the final episode is expected to start streaming from today.
However, the subscription base of the TVF channel has not attained the 10 million benchmark at the time of writing this article. So, the confirmed time and date of release are somewhat shrouded in mystery. The suspense will anyway end today.
Following a non-linear narrative structure, ‘Aspirants’ presents two different timelines revolving about three friends (played by Naveen Kasturia, Shivankit Parihar, and Abhilash Thapliyal), who aspire to crack the virtually impenetrable and almost century-old UPSC Civil Services exam with a qualification rate of merely around 0.1%.
Set amidst the backdrop of Old Rajinder Nagar area of New Delhi, the series weaves through the ups and downs of the journey of these three friends’ striving hard to achieve their common dream of becoming an IAS officer.
Although the story belongs to these three principal characters, it can be said to be told from the perspective of Naveen Kasturia’s character – Abhilash.
Even in TVF’s poster, the image of his character stands out. Moreover, the opening episode of the show started off with Abhilash’s character demonstrating a group of people about the right way of disposing of a mineral water bottle.
This is not the first time Naveen Kasturia has collaborated with The Viral Fever (TVF). Previously, the Nigeria-born actor had worked in TVF’s web series ‘Chai Sutta Chronicles’ and later in the immensely popular show ‘TVF Pitchers’. ‘TVF Pitchers’ also featured Jitendra Kumar of Panchayat’s fame.
Besides, Naveen Kasturia was also cast as the lead actor in an independent comedy film ‘Sulemani Keeda’. Naveen also got the golden opportunity to work with acclaimed filmmaker Dibakar Banerjee while assisting him as an assistant director in ‘LSD’ and ‘Shanghai’.
The former film featured in a prominent role the adept actor Rajkumar Rao, with whom Naveen later co-starred in Alt Balaji’s ‘Bose: Dead/Alive’.
In one of his earlier interviews, the grounded actor was seen narrating the story about how he bagged the role in the coveted series ‘TVF Pitchers’. The subtly humorous and candid way through which he recited his life story is somewhat reflected in the character he plays in ‘Aspirants’.
It was reminiscent of the ‘Tom & Jerry’ scene in ‘Aspirants’ where he described a beautiful analogy to his love interest just before the heart-breaking scene (we can’t tell you more).
Naveen Kasturia also expressed his excitement about a show he is currently working on. which will be launched on a big scale and will likely be announced soon by a different channel.
The actor is also extremely conscious about his shots, the importance of sharing the screen with a good co-actor, and imagining himself in the role of ‘Newton’, which was enacted by one of his most liked actors Rajkumar Rao. You can watch his amusing interview on the TVF YouTube channel.
In ‘Aspirants’, Naveen Kasturia has enacted the role of an anxious yet determined UPSC aspirant with the flair of a veteran performer. Because his act seemed so effortless and equally engaging. Particularly in the scenes involving another brilliant actor Sunny Hinduja (as his brotherly mentor Sandeep bhaiya).
Another wonderfully acted segment was the climactic scene of the fourth episode which was shot amidst a rainy backdrop. Naveen’s expressions and body language in that scene are the hallmarks of a consummate performer.
As we eagerly await the release of the final episode of ‘Aspirants’, we are equally enthusiastic for Naveen Kasturia’s character arc culminating into a gratifying crescendo.
On the same token, we are yearning to see more of Naveen in other content-oriented projects akin to the wonderfully executed ‘Aspirants’. Bravo Naveen Kasturia!