# Paurashpur

Paurashpur is an Indian Hindi-language fictional historical period original web series which was streamed on ALTBalaji and ZEE5. The web series is conceptualised by Baljit Singh Chaddha, directed by Sachindra Vats and produced by Sachin Mohite under the production company named as Jaasvand Entertainment. It stars Annu Kapoor, Milind Soman, Shilpa Shinde and Shaheer Sheikh. The series was released on 29 December 2020. The series received a mostly mixed critical reception, with reviewers criticising the show's writing and the overuse of sexual content.

## Cast

* Annu Kapoor as Bhadrapratap Singh
* Milind Soman as Boris (role of a transgender person)
* Shilpa Shinde as Queen Meerawati
* Shaheer Sheikh as Veer Singh
* Flora Saini as Nayantara
* Aditya Lal as Prince Ranveer
* Anant Joshi as Prince Aditya
* Sahil Salathia as Bhanu
* Poulomi Das as Kala
* Kashish Rai as Kusumlata
* Ashmita Bakshi as Umanglata
* Amit Pachori as Veer Bhanu

## Episodes list

| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date |
| 1 | 1 | "Paurashpur – Kingdom of Patriarchy" | Shachindra Vats | Baljit Singh Chaddha, Singh Ranveer Pratap and Rajesh Tripathi | 25 December 2020 (2020-12-25) |
| Maharaja Bhadrapratap, the patriarch of the kingdom is marrying his sixth Rani Umanglata and is very excited, but fearful too that this new wife may also go missing as the earlier ones. The Maharani assures of no untoward incident would happen and Raja marriage celebration happens with fanfare where Boris the man who brings a sense of discomfort to the king comes in. The rivalry is evident between the two in the celebration. The first night Raja is left feeling cheated and perturbed from the new Rani and seen torturing her.. the psychotic behaviour leaves Umanglata shocked. Umanglata confronts rani for being victimised .. to which Meerawati dismays by saying it's now your fate whereas on the other hand Meerawati is subjected to being cornered by her own daughter-in-law Kusumalata by almost stating her to be the mastermind in this entire scheme of things happening in the kingdom. There is a mystery to the women going missing and a sense of discomfort in the palace when a Naqabposh is seen entering the kingdom. ||||||
| 2 | 2 | "Nakaabposh – The Mysterious Kidnapper" | Shachindra Vats | Baljit Singh Chaddha, Singh Ranveer Pratap and Rajesh Tripathi | 25 December 2020 (2020-12-25) |
| Rani Umanglata is kidnapped from the palace .. Bhadrasen is furious and wants to know the culprit at all cost. Prince Aditya and Nrityaguru are finding solace in each other's company and Aditya feels comforted as his sexual partner than his own wife Kusumlata .. who is happy in the arms of her Dasi Kamakshi ... Whereas Meeravati has found that her favourite dasi Kala is in love with her son Ranveer and she cannot let this relationship blossom hence she conspires to get Kala married to Raja Bhadrapratap which Kala is unaware of it and succumbs to Rani's demand. ||||||
| 3 | 3 | "Kala Ranveer - Not A Love Story" | Shachindra Vats | Baljit Singh Chaddha, Singh Ranveer Pratap and Rajesh Tripathi | 25 December 2020 (2020-12-25) |
| Kala is shattered when she realises that instead of Ranveer she is married to Maharaja Bhadrapratap .. but The raja is elated to have Kala as his wife and that night he has a blissful night after many years with Kala .... Whereas Kala is broken but unable to refuse to be a Dasi. Boris gets to know from his confidante Maya about this heinous crime that happened in the kingdom. Bhadrasen is in a blissful mood when sees Kala and his son Ranveer in am intimate situation the next morning and is unable to bear this insult. He orders Kala to be executed by her own fellow women publicly but at the last minute she is kidnapped by the Naqabposh and same time Ranveer also goes missing from the palace. Meerawati is seen celebrating her victory with Nrityaguru her bed partner. ||||||
| 4 | 4 | "Boris – The Gender Politics" | Shachindra Vats | Baljit Singh Chaddha, Singh Ranveer Pratap and Rajesh Tripathi | 25 December 2020 (2020-12-25) |
| "Bhadrasen is unable to bear the humiliation and orders his people to find Kala at all cost and this time he will not marry again to Kala is found ... He feels that there is some conspiracy happening against him. On the other hand, we see Vijay Singh the Raja of the neighbouring kingdom named Sonpur sitting with his confidante Trikunth.. who is predicting some movement in the planetary solar system by his stones (kaudis). The conversation is mysterious. Ranveer is found in a dingy a room and is shocked to find Rani Nayantara who has been Raja Bhadrapratap's earlier wife kept in a sacred room. mummified. Here Bhadrapratap is performing yagna for his missing son Ranveer when Boris confronts him and questions that why he has never done any rituals when women of the palace have gone missing?? Raja loses out on Boris and abuses him, in fact, rebukes him for his existence on this planet. Boris is shaken. Here Kala awakens in a new place and realises that it's Boris dynasty where she is welcomed by Maya. On the other hand, in midnight the naqabposh is seen entering Raja's room..we build only to realise that it's Aditya the elder son who has come murder his own father." ||||||
| 5 | 5 | "Ujale Baaz – The Secret Hawk" | Shachindra Vats | Baljit Singh Chaddha, Singh Ranveer Pratap and Rajesh Tripathi | 25 December 2020 (2020-12-25) |
| Bhanu comforts Aditya who was about to kill his own father to which Aditya confronts saying that I have to prove to the wife Kusumlata that I am a man enough and can take charge of my life. Kala is sad and wants to reach out to Ranveer once, she tries to escape but gets caught and is shocked to find that all the Rani's who has gone missing from the palace are actually in Boris dynasty .and us further surprised to know that they are very happy in this space as they have all the freedom to make choices in their lives including their sexual pleasures. Whereas in the palace Ranveer is found unconscious in a big box being brought to the Raja and all are shocked to know that Ranveer had seen Rani Nayantara in an unknown place. In that eerie night, Bhadrapratap is found anxious, restless along with all other finding their own journeys. ||||||
| 6 | 6 | "Nayantara – Legend of the Missing Queen" | Shachindra Vats | Baljit Singh Chaddha, Singh Ranveer Pratap and Rajesh Tripathi | 25 December 2020 (2020-12-25) |
| Rani Meeravati is being executed publicly .. the entire Praja is worried and clueless why us Meerawati being punished..nobody knows the reason...till we go into the backstory where Rani Meeravati had saved the dead body of Nayantara to use this bait at some point to find her power and position. It's also revealed that Meerawati had gone to Boris to help him save all the Ranis and give them shelter in his brothel. Here Boris when gets to know that Meerawati is being executed he marched towards the palace with his army and all Ranis. Rani Meeravati is about to be executed .. we build the moment that she is about to be killed. ||||||
| 7 | 7 | "Vidroh – The Uprising" | Shachindra Vats | Baljit Singh Chaddha, Singh Ranveer Pratap and Rajesh Tripathi | 25 December 2020 (2020-12-25) |
| "Boris comes in and saves Meeravati. He confronts Raja and his soldiers ... A fight between Boris and Chandrasen happen and Senapati tried to save Raja. Boris rescues Meerawati and all women join Meerawati to execute Raja. Maharaja Bhadrasen is cordoned by Meeravati and other ladies to punish him. Boris meanwhile goes to find Bhanu his love interests, his partner and also his Spy who he had deputed in this palace to know each and every move of all the people so that he could one day dethrone the Raja. Boris is shattered when gets to know that Bhanu is dead and was murdered by no one else but Meerawati... Boris is unable to bear the pain he rushes to kill Meerawati but instead is attacked by Aditya. There is a celebration among women after Raja is buried alive in the wall, Boris has collapsed and we reveal that the Naqabposh is none other than Prince Veer Singh the man who lost his beloved Nayantara and has come with the agenda to destroy Paurashpur kingdom." ||||||

## Release and marketing

On 15 October 2020, ALTBalaji announced about the web series and it has released on 29 December 2020. The web series logo was launched on 2 December 2020 on ALTBalaji's official Instagram profile with 16 different Indian languages. Teaser was launched on 6 December 2020.

## Critical reception

Archika Khurana of The Times of India has given 2/5 stars stating that the plot unfolds to draw out the state of women in society and addresses some significant issues like patriarchy, gender politics and power. However, it ends up being a tedious watch due to its weak endeavour. Directed by Shachindra Vats, this seven-part series bought together many ingredients—good setup, great casting, and strong background score— but the final dish turns out to be not-so-inviting.
Anvita Singh of The Indian Express criticise that "The script is abysmal, and the dialogues are just plain bad. It is a groundbreaking epic drama about lust, revenge and patriarchy. However, it comes across as soft porn. There are unnecessary sex scenes, which, by the way, have not been shot aesthetically."
Gautam Batra of Koimoi has given 1/5 star to this web series stating that "The makers have tried to titillate their viewers with erotic scenes but they are forgettable. A concept like this needed labour of love from the writers because the story has a huge scope and is promising. There are several elements of the storyline which need to reach the audience. There are too many loose ends and so much half-hearted work."
123telugu has criticised the web series with 2.25/5 stars. They says that the web series is a high budget erotic drama that fails to entertain. Even though the story, premise, and performances by the lead cast are good, the horrible narration, logic, and sleaze content make this series a boring, over the top and bland watch this weekend.
Dyuti Gupta or SheThePeople.TV criticised that "This Ekta Kapoor Series Is Just Glitter, No Gold". The plot had ample potential to turn out to be a Bahubali-sized blockbuster, but a below-average script added with an equally poor direction makes it something you'd be better off skipping. There are so many loopholes and loose ends that the entire show feels like a half-hearted effort on part of the makers. The CGI and VFX are lousy, the screenplay is preposterous and the dialogues are downright cringeworthy.
Binged criticised this web series with 2/10 stars saying that it is a terrible series and an utterly forgettable affair. There nothing more to say. The music, in combination with the poor acting, gives the series an unintentional hilarious feeling. The background score generously uses the ‘Uttama villain’ classic themes. The editing could have been far better, more so since it is by the director. The whole thing looks so rushed. The writing is unintentionally hilarious in parts.
Ravi Bule of ABP News Live criticise that the web series with Gender Discrimination Raises Cheaply Series and rather focuses on Kama Sutra like content.
TV9 Hindi criticise that Story has been focused on bold scenes, no character could leave impression.