Avrodh season 2 The siege within; is just another, Hindu hyper-nationalist, Jingoistic, Pakistan Bashing, fictional propaganda series acting as a government PSA while lacking any sort of human touch.

Is exactly what I was reading in every other review published online; I am quite certain, you would have also read the same. I finally got sometime to binge watch the series and know it for myself, what’s what!

Is the series work of fiction? Writer’s whims and fancies? Is there any shred of truth in the story narrated to the audience? I like to figure that out, and that’s why this article. Its not a review, and also its too late for a review, after reading this article you would know what actually happened and where the writer of the series used his discretion.

What’s a fact and what’s fiction?

Let’s start with the protagonist. Abir Chaterjee as Major Pradeep Bhattacharya. Is this character real? Somebody pointed that out in one of the reviews “how can be a taxman be in Army at the same time?” Looks like a genuine argument, raising serious questions at the authenticity of the plot. However, it did actually happen, the character is very real. Meet Captain Pradeep Bhattacharya, the IRS officer who one the Shaurya Chakra. He did lead an ambush team as told in the series, he had a strong intelligence network as shown in the series. Quite interestingly the same set of intelligent people who find this odd and fictional had absolutely no complains when Samar Anand, a street musician and an immigrant in London struggling to meet ends with multiple menial jobs goes on to become a Major in Indian Army as a fierce Bomb Disposal expert; I am talking about Jab Tak Hain Jaan a 2012 blockbuster by Yash Chopra and Shahrukh Khan playing the Major.

I believe it is someone’s prerogative when and when not to engage their intellectual faculties. But none the less, we move forward. Are the stories narrated in the series based on true stories or are imaginary?

The ISI and Sri Lanka connection and the shopping list of 1000 grenades. How true is that? As a matter of fact, the numbers and the complete dialogue is officially documented. You can pull up newspapers for the year 2008 and get the exact same words “In May 2008, Lt. Gen Sarath Fonseka, the chief of the Sri Lanka Army visited Islamabad with a shopping list that included 22 tanks, hundreds of thousands of grenades and other weapons and ammunition. The deal was worth over $100 million.” Of course the writer instead of using millions used crores and instead of saying hundred thousand said 1000 grenades. Now you could decide if that would be called as a fact or work of imagination.

The series also shows Pakistan’s extensive involvement with the Khalistan crisis. How true is that? The cover story and the pictures below give a good idea, I would say:

This is just one of the news cuttings that I posted here, you could find tons of them everywhere, news reports, government reports, researches and what not. And mind it, these are from the time before the hyper-nationalist, evil BJP came to power in 2014. So, there was no concept of “Godi Media” at that time.

Pakistan pushing fake currency in India through various channels to attack the economy as shown in the series is also true word by word. There are innumerable reports corroborating the claim. For example–

Once again, that is just one of many examples.

Yeah, but of course some people don’t find the series as based on true stories or non-fiction as it does not give any justification to terrorism. There is no poor headmaster, there is no Muslim teen shown being denied a house in a Hindu locality. There is no mob-lynching shown that provokes somebody to blow up a bus or a train. How could that be real? There has to be rational, emotional justification for terrorism. Shouldn’t that be? Moreover, the series also refers to Demonetization and Digital India plan rubbing salt to the wounds of certain people.

By the way, you could have a look at two of my old articles Modi gov’s surgical strike(s) on Black Money and The Cash Nexus: Criminals and Politics which I wrote after Demonetization, the series says some of the similar things.

I would say that the series effortlessly explained complex concepts like Money Laundering, Hawala Trading, Shell Companies, Counterfeit Currencies, NGOs as front for conducting illegal activities etc. I haven’t seen a movie or series so far who tries and succeeds in explaining the cause and effect of these practices so neatly. There are educational videos explaining the same but they are complex and they don’t give real life examples. This definitely is one of the reasons why you should watch the series.

Have a look at the trailer below, if you already haven’t seen the show:

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Also read : Avrodh: the web-series that looks more realistic and closer to the truth!