# Rasbhari
**Rasbhari** (रसभरी) is a 2020 Indian Hindi-language comedy-drama web series directed by [Nikhil Nagesh Bhat](https://www.edgepedia.org/nikhil-nagesh-bhat) and written by Shantanu Srivastava, released on Amazon Prime Video. Set in the small city of Meerut, it follows a teenage boy's infatuation with his new English teacher, Shanoo Bansal, and the rumors that she carries a sex-obsessed alter ego, the spirit Rasbhari, which draws the town's women into a witch hunt against her.[1](https://www.justwatch.com/in/tv-show/rasbhari) • [2](https://www.thenewsminute.com/amp/story/flix/what-swara-bhaskers-rasbhari-gets-wrong-about-consent-and-sexuality-128292)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Format | One season of 8 episodes, each about 25 minutes; Hindi language, produced in India[1](https://www.justwatch.com/in/tv-show/rasbhari) |
| Release | June 25, 2020 on Amazon Prime Video[3](https://www.mid-day.com/entertainment/web-series/article/swara-bhasker-on-rasbhari-was-meant-to-be-multi-season-venture-22898264) |
| Lead cast | Swara Bhasker as Shanoo Bansal; Ayushmaan Saxena as Nand Kishore Tyagi; Rashmi Agdekar as Priyanka; Neelu Kohli as Pushpa[1](https://www.justwatch.com/in/tv-show/rasbhari) |
| Key crew | Director Nikhil Nagesh Bhat; writer Shantanu Srivastava; producer Tanveer Bookwala and co-producer Deepak Segal, with Sameer Nair[1](https://www.justwatch.com/in/tv-show/rasbhari) • [4](https://www.applauseentertainment.in/uploads/press/pdf/pdf_61.pdf) |
| Audience rating | About 2.9 out of 10 on IMDb from roughly 16,000 votes[1](https://www.justwatch.com/in/tv-show/rasbhari) |
| Age rating | A (adults only) in India; TV-MA on some platforms[1](https://www.justwatch.com/in/tv-show/rasbhari) • [5](https://watch.plex.tv/en-GB/show/rasbhari) |
| Streaming | Amazon Prime Video, including a 4K tier and an ad-supported tier[1](https://www.justwatch.com/in/tv-show/rasbhari) |
## Spoilers
### Premise
Nand Kishore Tyagi is a class 11 student in Meerut who wants to lose his virginity before he finishes high school. When Shanoo Bansal arrives in town with her husband Naveen as the school's new English teacher, she becomes the object of fascination for the town's men and of gossip among its women. Word spreads that Shanoo seduces and sleeps with several men while her husband is away, and that when she does, she transforms into a seductress called Rasbhari, said to be the spirit of a courtesan. Rasbhari becomes the fantasy of the men and the terror of the women, and Nand, now devoted to Shanoo, takes on the responsibility of saving her from the witch hunt initiated by his own mother, Pushpa.[2](https://www.thenewsminute.com/amp/story/flix/what-swara-bhaskers-rasbhari-gets-wrong-about-consent-and-sexuality-128292) • [1](https://www.justwatch.com/in/tv-show/rasbhari)
The series leaves the nature of Rasbhari deliberately unresolved. Naveen offers a half-explanation that Shanoo has dissociative identity disorder, but the show never establishes this; [Swara Bhasker](https://www.edgepedia.org/swara-bhasker) said in an interview that the character is open to interpretation, possibly a part of female sexuality repressed by society rather than a literal second personality.[2](https://www.thenewsminute.com/amp/story/flix/what-swara-bhaskers-rasbhari-gets-wrong-about-consent-and-sexuality-128292) Reviewers read Rasbhari as a metaphor for Shanoo's liberated sexuality, which small-town social norms do not condone in a woman.[6](https://glamsham.com/world/latest-news/rasbhari-well-intended-but-half-baked-ians-review-rating-and-1-2/)
## Production
The series was developed by Applause Entertainment, the content studio led by Sameer Nair, with Tanveer Bookwala of Ding Entertainment as producer and Deepak Segal as a co-producer. Applause announced it in June 2020 as a coming-of-age love story set in the Hindi heartland, with Bhasker, fresh from *Veere Di Wedding* and known for *Anaarkali of Aarah*, cast as the enigmatic teacher. Bhat had previously directed *Saluun* and *Brij Mohan Amar Rahe*, and Srivastava had written *Tevar*.[4](https://www.applauseentertainment.in/uploads/press/pdf/pdf_61.pdf) The series was filmed in Bijnor.[7](https://filmyfocus.com/web-series/rasbhari)
Bhasker plays Shanoo and, in the Rasbhari persona, a contrasting seductive figure; one trade listing describes her as playing three roles in the series.[7](https://filmyfocus.com/web-series/rasbhari) The supporting cast includes Rashmi Agdekar as Nand's classmate Priyanka, Pradhuman Singh as Naveen, Neelu Kohli as Pushpa, Chittaranjan Tripathy as Tyagi, and Sunny Hinduja as Pappu Tiwari.[1](https://www.justwatch.com/in/tv-show/rasbhari) • [8](https://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/rasbhari/cast/1000801956/)
## Reception
Critical response was mixed to negative. [The Indian Express](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-indian-express) reviewer Sampada Sharma found the first episode repellent and the male gaze problematic throughout, judging that the series pretends to be progressive without earning it.[9](https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/opinion-entertainment/rasbhari-problematic-gaze-that-pretends-to-be-progressive-6483755/) An IANS review by Vinayak Chakravorty, rated 2.5, called the series well intended but half baked, noting that the story takes nearly half the runtime to start and that the writing does not supply the nuances its allegory needs.[6](https://glamsham.com/world/latest-news/rasbhari-well-intended-but-half-baked-ians-review-rating-and-1-2/) The Times of India, also rating 2.5, called it a half-hearted take on erotica that never becomes crass, praising Ayushmaan Saxena's performance and the small-town texture while faulting the open-ended climax.[10](https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/web-series/reviews/hindi/rasbhari/amp_seasonreview/76659836.cms) A review in The News Minute argued the series handles adolescent and female sexuality in a refreshing way but stumbles in scenes where the teacher persona kisses and comes on to the minor Nand without explicit consent, an equation of age and power the review called a moral gray area at best.[2](https://www.thenewsminute.com/amp/story/flix/what-swara-bhaskers-rasbhari-gets-wrong-about-consent-and-sexuality-128292)
On IMDb the series sits at about 2.9 out of 10 from roughly 16,000 votes.[1](https://www.justwatch.com/in/tv-show/rasbhari) Scroll.in reported in July 2020 that the rating had been driven down by organized campaigns, with 70 percent of votes at that time cast for the lowest score of one, and quoted filmmaker Neeraj Ghaywan describing how Hindutva supporters run coordinated downvoting against titles they dislike; some tweets called for a boycott of the series over Bhasker's political positions.[11](https://scroll.in/reel/966171/is-the-controversy-about-the-web-series-rasbhari-the-best-thing-about-it/1000)
## Controversy
The trailer drew objections to its mild sexual content before release, and the controversy continued after the series began streaming on June 25, 2020.[11](https://scroll.in/reel/966171/is-the-controversy-about-the-web-series-rasbhari-the-best-thing-about-it/1000) • [3](https://www.mid-day.com/entertainment/web-series/article/swara-bhasker-on-rasbhari-was-meant-to-be-multi-season-venture-22898264) [Prasoon Joshi](https://www.edgepedia.org/prasoon-joshi), chairman of the [Central Board of Film Certification](https://www.edgepedia.org/central-board-of-film-certification), publicly criticized a scene showing a little girl dancing in front of drinking men, asking whether creators were exercising freedom of expression or freedom of exploitation. Producer Tanveer Bookwala replied that Joshi had missed the scene's subtext and meta satire about pop culture's hypocrisy, and Bhasker wrote in Hindi that the scene showed the opposite of his reading: the girl dances of her own wish, her father is embarrassed, and the scene shows that society will sexualize her.[12](https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/web-series/prasoon-joshi-saddened-by-irresponsible-content-of-web-series-rasbhari-6477786/lite/)
Bhasker said in July 2020 that the series had been renewed for a second season and was always meant as a multi-season venture, ending its first installment on a deliberate hook.[3](https://www.mid-day.com/entertainment/web-series/article/swara-bhasker-on-rasbhari-was-meant-to-be-multi-season-venture-22898264) Streaming catalogs, however, list only one season, and Plex states the show was canceled after its first season; no second season appears in current listings.[5](https://watch.plex.tv/en-GB/show/rasbhari) • [1](https://www.justwatch.com/in/tv-show/rasbhari)
## References
1. [Rasbhari (2020), JustWatch](https://www.justwatch.com/in/tv-show/rasbhari)
2. [What Swara Bhasker's 'Rasbhari' gets wrong about consent and sexuality, The News Minute (2020)](https://www.thenewsminute.com/amp/story/flix/what-swara-bhaskers-rasbhari-gets-wrong-about-consent-and-sexuality-128292)
3. [Swara Bhasker on Rasbhari: Was meant to be multi-season venture, Mid-Day (2020)](https://www.mid-day.com/entertainment/web-series/article/swara-bhasker-on-rasbhari-was-meant-to-be-multi-season-venture-22898264)
4. [Applause Entertainment has Swara Bhasker headline in a 'Rasbhari' tale, press release (2020)](https://www.applauseentertainment.in/uploads/press/pdf/pdf_61.pdf)
5. [Where to Watch Rasbhari (2020), Plex](https://watch.plex.tv/en-GB/show/rasbhari)
6. ['Rasbhari': Well intended but half baked, IANS via Glamsham (2020)](https://glamsham.com/world/latest-news/rasbhari-well-intended-but-half-baked-ians-review-rating-and-1-2/)
7. [Rasbhari: Cast, Crew, Review, Release Date, Platform, Trailer, Filmy Focus](https://filmyfocus.com/web-series/rasbhari)
8. [Rasbhari - Full Cast & Crew, TV Guide](https://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/rasbhari/cast/1000801956/)
9. [Swara Bhasker's Rasbhari: Problematic gaze that pretends to be progressive, The Indian Express (2020)](https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/opinion-entertainment/rasbhari-problematic-gaze-that-pretends-to-be-progressive-6483755/)
10. [Rasbhari Season 1 Review: A half-hearted take on erotica, The Times of India (2020)](https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/web-series/reviews/hindi/rasbhari/amp_seasonreview/76659836.cms)
11. [Is the controversy about the web series 'Rasbhari' the best thing about it?, Scroll.in (2020)](https://scroll.in/reel/966171/is-the-controversy-about-the-web-series-rasbhari-the-best-thing-about-it/1000)
12. [Prasoon Joshi saddened by 'irresponsible' content of web series Rasbhari, The Indian Express (2020)](https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/web-series/prasoon-joshi-saddened-by-irresponsible-content-of-web-series-rasbhari-6477786/lite/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Unscripted, reality, and web-native series › Web-native and streaming-original series › Indian and South Asian web series*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license