EXCLUSIVE: Director Oni Sen on Asur's inspiration, 'Hindu mythology is an amazing resource'

Asur 2 is the second season of the popular Hindi series Asur. It stars Arshad Warsi and Barun Sobti among others and can be watched for free on Jio Cinema.

By Rishil Jogani

Updated on Jun 10, 2023 | 06:07 PM IST | 1M

Asur 2 is inspired by Hindu mythology (Credit: Jio Cinema)

Asur is among the most appreciated Indian series of all time. The show boasts of a stellar cast, spearheaded by Arshad Warsi and Barun Sobti. The second season of the show released early this month and won universal acclaim from critics and audiences alike. The creator Gaurav Shukla, director Oni Sen and writer Abhijeet Khuman graced Pinkvilla with an interview of theirs, where they passionately spoke about their show, the fan theories, future plans and more.

Gaurav Shukla Shares That He Conceptualised Asur Way Back In 2009

Gaurav Shukla shared how he developed the idea of Asur, in his exclusive Pinkvilla interaction with Himesh Mankad, post the release of the second season of his acclaimed show. He said, "In 2009, I wrote a story of Asur. It was about a team of forensic experts. They are solving crime and the other person is sending out the message through the dead body. From there, we further tried to develop it and make it Indian so that it doesn't look borrowed from Hollywood. In that process, we thought on how to make it look rooted and so we arrived at making the villain and his philosophies rooted in mythology and the investigation also goes in that direction. From 2009, it got greenlit for development in 2017. I went to many producers but it's not like they didn't like it but they said that if one is kept in captivity and the other is kept in jail, we will sing songs. It's not like because of that it didn't happen. Thankfully Voot, and the creative team inside Voot, saw the potential in it and they put it into development. We wrote 8 (episodes) and then Oni sir came into the picture and gave the right guidance and direction"

Oni Sen Shares Why He Came Onboard For Asur

Oni Sen shared what about the idea of Asur, convinced him to be a part of this wondrous project. He said, "The human story, the events and the grounding of the story, binds Asur together. It is so seamlessly blend and that is what excited me. The other reason that excited me was that I saw immense potential of human dynamics in it because the story is all about human dynamics. It is not about killings. Of course they are important but that (potential of human dynamics) is what I called Gaurav for and said it's fantastic and let's talk about it more."

Oni Sen Stresses On The Hindu Mythological Angle Of Asur

Adding about the Hindu mythology bit, which has made Asur the high concept show that it is now, he said, "Hindu mythology is an amazing resource. It is like an ocean. There is so much in it. And a lot of work has been going on till date. I think it (Asur) has pretty much skimmed through the surface. It takes all the popular things and glamourizes it. And that is something Gaurav, Abhijeet and the team know it so well. They exactly know what to get out of it; All the nooks and crannies, and the subtext of it. That's why the connect of it from the events are seamless."

Abhijeet Khuman Shares The Timeline Of How Asur Came Into Being

When Abhijeet Khuman was asked about when he got involved in the making of Asur, he said, "I joined him in the first season only. At that time, I was working with him for the first time, so I did not know much about Asur. When I came on board, the idea was there but we were still trying to figure out the mythological aspect of it. We had zeroed down on another asur that was a 'kali' at that time but as we approached it, we realised that if we are really trying to blend mythology with the current times, then there is no better asur than 'kali', because the implication of 'kali' is pretty much written in the mythology very well; like that's what he is going to do in this time and it was fitting, so that's how we started. For season 2, we knew where we are heading because we were just following the characters, what the nature is and how he is going to react and all."