Swara Bhasker stars in a leading role in the mini-series, Flesh, that came out on August 21. Directed by Danish Aslam of Break ke Baad fame, Flesh is streaming on Eros Now and deals with girl trafficking, a very serious and heinous crime that is not just prevalent in India but in many countries. Swara Bhasker plays ACP Radha from Mumbai Police, who handles trafficking cases and begins to investigate the disappearance of an NRI girl. This brings her closer to a vicious trafficking ring and gets her to face a dark chapter from her own past. Flesh Review: Swara Bhasker’s Gritty Portrayal & Akshay Oberoi’s Deranged Performance Add Chutzpah to This Thrilling and Often Disturbing Mini-Series.
Flesh also stars Akshay Oberoi as the main antagonist, along with Vidya Malvade, Uday Tikekar, Yudhishtar Urs, Kavin Dave, Geeta Agarwal among others. Some of them play despicable villains you really don't want to have the rotten luck to meet IRL. Some of then are violent gangsters, others are debauched perverts, and there are some who are both. Thankfully, most of them gets their just desserts by the end.
In this special feature, we rank all the despicable villains we come across in the series, based on how cruel or debauched they were presented. Needless to say, PLENTY OF SPOILERS AHEAD. So tread ahead with caution.
So here's our ranking from Bad to the Utmost Worst!!!
Bali
Played By: Bijou Thaangjam
We don't know much Bali, except that he is the trainer of Taj's vicious dogs. Towards the final episode, we find out even there is more menace to him than what meets the eye, when he sets the dogs on Radha and later injures her colleague (Siddhant Bahl).
Jayant
Played By: Kavin Dave
Kavin Dave, who is usually cast as the hero's lovable BFF, goes against the type here as one of the trifecta holding a group of children for trafficking purposes. Compared the other two in the group, he is practically lame though he does meet a very brutal end.
Niketan
Played By: Sayandeep Sensharma
The Office (Hindi) fame Sayandeep Sensharma plays Niketan, Shuvvo's nephew, who is more sophisticated in his approach than Taj. But he is no less criminal than both Shuvvo and Taj, carrying out murder and deceit. He also indulges in BDSM acts, but that's a lifestyle choice, right?
DJ
Played By: Ishaan Khanna
If Hans from Frozen was not animated and was made even more evil, he would be DJ. Deceiving poor Zoya (Mahima Makwana), first by making friends with her through Snapchat, making her fall for him with his smooth talks and sorry stories and then getting kidnapping and selling her to the trafficking gang, DJ is a prime example of 'looks can be deceiving'. So it filled our hearts with vindictive glee to see him being bound and tortured by Pearl (Natasa Stankovic), later in the series. Akshay Oberoi Feels Big Box-Office Numbers Help Get the Actor’s Roles That They Wouldn’t Otherwise Get.
Sana
Played By: Urvazi Kotwal
At first, we thought Sana was just as victim as Zoya and the rest of the girls in Taj's new consignment. It's later that we find out she is planted there by Taj as a mole to keep the girls in check. What's outrageous is that like DJ, even she had also baited Zoya through online friendship. The interesting part is even Sana is mistreated and abused by Taj, and later even being betrayed by him, before Radha comes to her rescue.
Viju
Played By: Chaitanya Sardeshpande
It is to Viju that DJ hands over Zoya first. Evil, abusive and arrogant, Viju loves to taunt his abductees, as if he enjoys playing his food. What's ironical here is that Viju is from a lower- middle class home and has a mother and a sister at home. Like DJ, Viju is also chased down and captured, this time by Radha, who gets him tortured for more info for whom he is working. He is later killed while travelling in train, which is made to look like an accident.
Chhaya
Played By: Rakhi Mansha
Chhaya is the woman who, along with Simon and Jayant, keeps the children in captivity for their shady 'Boss'. She is rough, uncoutish, shrewd and like Simon, at the receiving end of their boss' occasional tortures, that she later vents out on the children. She is as evil as Simon, and in the end, she gets a very sadistic death at the hands of her abductees. Rasbhari: From Sexualising a Kid to Being Soft Porn, 5 Accusations Against Swara Bhasker's Web-Series and Why They Don't Make Sense!
Ludo
Played By: Alok Kumar
Ludo doesn't have a backstory or any personality, save for the fact that he works for Taj and is dangerously evil. At first we think his case is that of someone whose bark is worse than his bite. Till he bashes a girl's face, and breaks her arm and leg, for trying to escape. Despite a warning from his boss, Ludo continues his torturous ways, even raping a girl. This proves too much for his seniors and he is killed as a result, with his body kept in the same truck where the girls are being trafficked.
Boss
Played By: Deepjyoti Das
I am not really sure if I caught his name mentioned in the series. All I know is that he is to whom Simon, Chhaya and Jayant reports to and that he is someone higher in the police department. Also he is one dangerous, debauched man, whose smooth talks and decent posturing aren't enough to hide his sexual perversity. Forget the kids, even his own men can't escape his 'punishments'.
Simon
Played By: Rahul Dutta
The first scene of the series itself shows how evil Simon is, as he sodomises a girl they hold in captivity. He may be a pawn in his Boss' scheme of things, but Simon is loathsome enough for his violent, sadistic and murderous nature. Not only does he sexually abuse and torture the children, he also later kills a good-hearted Sikh driver. An act that later comes to bite them in their backsides. One of Simon's worst acts, is when he separates the young siblings Rajji and Rajat, by abducting the latter as a means to escape. Resulting in how a young kid turns out to be a very deranged monster.
Shuvvo
Played By: Uday Tikekar
Shuvvo may look like a respectable Bengali gentleman, but he is the overlord of them all. He has made his money first by tricking the grandparents of Zoya, and later indulging in girl trafficking activities. He kidnaps Zoya purely for revenge, though in the end, things really don't go the way he wants. His biggest crime is creating the biggest monster in the show, which is...
Taj
Played By: Akshay Oberoi
If Taj Mahal we know is the monument of love, the 'Taj' we meet here is an exact opposite of that. A bisexual, coke-snorting, remorseless deviant, Taj symbolises what cruelty is if it has a face and coloured hair. Sure, he has a tragic background and his current nature is a result of the circumstances in which he grew up. That doesn't take away the many cruelties we see Taj indulge throughout the series, from bashing a man's head with his fists, to torturing and maiming girls, and killing people as he pleases. Taj is evil, and he relishes being that.
Agree with our ranking? Do share your thoughts in the comments section below.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 25, 2020 05:20 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).