Aspirants S03

One must embrace certain rules to engage with a TVF setting. (Read this in the Fight Club voice). First, you only have the right to criticise the country if you are willing to serve it: an extension of the “don’t criticise movies until you’ve made one yourself” or “you can’t commentate on cricket without playing it” line of argument. It’s a bit more hostile than “be the change you want to see”. Second, Civil Services is the be-all-and-end-all of all careers; there is no greater honour than clearing the UPSC exams and working for the government. Third, India is a perfectly functioning democracy in which inquiries on officers happen without any ulterior motives and political prejudice; corruption is an exception, not the norm. Fourth, every department cares solely for the development of the nation; pro-establishment vibes are good vibes. Fifth, women exist in service of their male counterparts; they’re partners or lovers. And last, caste and religion don’t exist at the grassroots level; only class and opportunities do. Within these rules, and within the truth that nearly every TVF show can be called Aspirants, this series is more adept at exploring the aspirational genre called Walking the Talk.

Abhilash (Naveen Kasturia), SK ( Abhilash Thapliyal) and Guri (Shivankit Singh Parihar) – is back for a third time, the three friends picking up where they’d left off in the previous season.The deep personal ties, forged through intense studying to crack the UPSC — the hierarchy graven in stone within the civil services, with the IAS on top — the squabbles and the warmth of the years spent propping each other up in Old Rajinder Nagar and Mukherjee Nagar rented holes-in-the-wall, have given way to a complicated professional life, which is not as rosy as it was cracked up to be.