Deviating from its usual course, this episode of Asur: Welcome to Your Dark Side opens in Kolhapur, 1 year ago. A grandfather who is a painter explains his painting to his grandson. The painting is that of the Asur Kali who disguised himself as human and lived among people. However, ‘Dharma’ and ‘Satya’ defeated Kali. Kali hid to take revenge and now in Kali Yuga, he will be killed by the god’s incarnation, Kalki. After the painter is done narrating this story, a masked man assaults him. While killing him, the masked man says to the painter to give the killer’s message to God. “Main aise sandesh tab tak bhejta rahunga jab tak wo aa nahi jaata”, says the killer. Looks like this is the same renowned painter who was initially murdered in the serial killings. This scene gives us an insight into the killer’s mind.

In the present day, Nikhil tries to concoct a plan to murder entrepreneur Aditya Jalan. Aditya is also a philanthropist and announces 50% of the wealth of his company to be donated for charity. Nikhil sees this news and tries to think how Aditya’s extremely tight security could be breached.

DJ calls a Balinese mask instructor in Bali to ask him about an Indian student. The instructor confirms having an Indian student who was “so sure of his truth”. Unfortunately, the instructor is blind and won’t be able to recognise the student’s face.

Nikhil spirals thinking about all his bad decisions in the past. In an unreal scene in his imagination, Nikhil is with DJ in a lake. Nikhil expresses his dilemmas and the feeling of being lost. DJ tells him to not surrender and stay strong. Nikhil gets a flicker of motivation and comes back to reality.

DJ asks Nusrat to construct Shubh’s photo after his age progression to see what the boy would look like today.

In Varanasi, Lolark visits Shubh’s grandfather to learn more about him. The grandfather shows him Shubh’s sketchbook which has drawings of the devil.

DJ and Samarth call a priest to study the horoscopes of the dead victims but the priest is a sham. DJ asks Kesar for his help to read the horoscopes of the victims. After analysing all the horoscopes, Kesar tells DJ that all the victims are born in the Delphinus constellation which is considered to be very auspicious.

In Varanasi, Shubh’s grandfather tells Lolark the story of the origin of the Asuras according to the Vedas. After that, he tells Lolark about Shubh’s past. Shubh’s father wanted his son to be born in an auspicious time just like all the Devtas but because of an accident, Shubh was born two days before the due date which was an inauspicious time. Owing to this, Shubh’s father started calling his son ‘Asur’ and Shubh internalised this trauma.

At the makeshift workplace in Central Jail, DJ wonders how the killer knew that all the victims were born in the same constellation. Someone suggests that the killer must be following a database. Now the question is which database has all three - date, time and place of birth? Rasul says that a government organisation called SIC has all three elements required for one’s horoscope. However, its data is secured by an 18-bit firewall system. DJ instructs Rasul to break into the system.

In another unreal vision, Nikhil sees Aditya take a medicine. This strikes him and ends his confusion as to how he can murder Aditya Jalan. The kidnapper tells Nikhil that Aditya’s engagement is in 3 days.

It takes time for Rasul to break through the high-level security of the SIC database. DJ approaches Naina for help since she is a software engineer. Naina agrees and successfully hacks her way into the SIC database.

Nikhil again tampers with the television’s wires for an analog channel and this time the television catches the signal of a police walkie-talkie. He is elated. Then, he goes back to studying some books on forensic science present in the room.

Lolark tells Shubh’s story to DJ and also tells him about Shubh’s sketchbook.

The CBI team tries to figure out who the killer’s next target could be from the list of names in the SIC database. Something about Aditya Jalan’s name strikes DJ and he believes that Aditya will be the next target. DJ feels that this could be the killer’s way to further his ideology through the murder of a well-known man. Moreover, Aditya Jalan is the quintessential good guy.

DJ is with Samarth in the car when DJ receives a call from the kidnapper. In his pride, the kidnapper tells DJ that his doubt about Aditya Jalan is right and that Aditya will be killed on the day of his engagement. DJ wonders how the kidnapper got to know that the team suspected Aditya Jalan when this information was confined only to the internal team.

The kidnapper tells Nikhil that he told DJ about the date and time of their plan. Nikhil is angry because now DJ will step up Aditya Jalan’s already high security.

DJ and the team prepare for high security at Aditya Jalan’s engagement in Mumbai. Aditya is also intimated about the threat and asked to cancel his engagement. However, Aditya says that he gets these kinds of empty threats regularly and doesn’t take DJ’s concern seriously.

DJ sends Rasul to Mumbai who attends Aditya’s engagement party along with another CBI officer, Sajid. DJ and the team observe the party through CCTV cameras. There are instructions to not let Aditya eat or drink anything without testing it first. DJ spots a toy truck on the floor and immediately directs Sajid towards it. Suspecting it to be a bomb, DJ instructs Sajid to put it in a freezer and vacate the venue. Sajid does as he is told and the bomb blasts in the freezer with a negligible impact. Everybody applauds Sajid for saving Aditya’s life. But wait, there’s more to this. Having worked under DJ very closely, Nikhil knew that this would happen. All of this was actually a part of his plan. The real plan starts now! Suddenly, the lights go out at the party. The next moment, the lights are back but Aditya is lying dead on the floor with the killer’s signature Balinese mask beside his body. It looks like he has been poisoned.

This episode of Asur: Welcome to your dark side kept me hooked till the end. Even after coming so close to saving the next target, the killer and Nikhil’s pair outwit DJ and the team. It will be interesting to see what will be the consequences of this incident in the next episode. 

Episode Rating: 4/5