Choona is more of a political satire in the first half of the show but soon becomes a heist drama. The first half is where we get to see the titular antagonist take center stage and let the viewers know he is the man people cannot mess with.
Spoilers Ahead
Avinash Shukla, aka Shuklaji, for his party members and the people of the constituency, is a man who is obsessed with power and astrology. He is well-read on both topics, and he makes sure to merge both subjects and use them to his benefit. He is a staunchly religious man, but he has committed brutal crimes to safeguard his power and influence in his constituency. Avinash makes all his moves as per the astrological charts because he must make sure nothing goes wrong. He commits crimes, extorts, plans his political moves, and everything else as per his chart in the hope nobody will be able to cross him or cause him any loss. Shukla manages to wear all kinds of rings with gemstones to make sure he keeps all the planets happy and in his favor.
Apart from his mania about planetary positions, Avinash is a ruthless politician who is currently seeking the post of Chief Minister. He is making long, elaborate plans in the hope of reaching his final goal. He is known as a calculator because he is aware of the prices of basically every commodity around him, which includes MLAs as well. His arrogance and power make for a heady cocktail of delusion, which is why he is very concerned about the people he spends his time with. His innermost circle consists of people he only trusts, and he knows none of them could deceive him. All these people also get a portion of all the transactions that happen in the party office.
Shukla remains confident that he is always ten steps ahead of many of his peers. He wants the backing of five MLAs to destabilize the current government and raze down a local slum area called Pathan Tola. This will pave the way for the redevelopment and building of a mall for the people. Shukla plans to give this land to his ally, the owner of Shenoy Builders; in return, the man will give him 300 crores to bribe the MLAs and get them to resign. This was a foolproof plan, but what he did not see coming was the agitation to save the area and the local wannabe leader Ansari was trying to get along with the slum leader. Realizing that Ansari is playing a big game that could eventually hamper Shukla himself, he tries every trick in the book to make sure this agitation is silenced. The leader and the people are not willing to reach a truce.
Shukla was asked by the Chief Minister to calm the situation down because of rising protests at the mall site. This was just a reminder for the man to slow down and not seek what he desperately wanted. Shukla seems a lot more agitated and very vocal about his ambitions. That was probably his first mistake. This probably led to many people becoming his enemies, including the state chief minister. Avinash could have tried the ‘slow and steady wins the race’ tactic, but he did not because he was probably waiting for a long time for this moment, and he was not willing to let it go.
Shukla tries to keep Ansari alive because he is the only key to solving the Pathan Tola slum agitation. He did not know that Ansari was seeking revenge. Ansari’s uncle, Faulad Singh, another local rowdy, was killed by Shukla, and the boy has been at it for a while. For the first time in many years, the young man has come close to Shukla, and he would not want to let go of this chance.
Shukla and his associate, Shenoy Builders, are cornered by the Chief Minister in the hope of getting them to dial down their plans to bring down the government. The main man was aware that a retaliation of this kind was something he should expect. Shukla was ready with a contingency plan, but he did not know that his brother-in-law Bishnu, along with a group of men, were planning to rob him to teach him a lesson. Unbeknownst to him, Shukla had managed to enrage a bunch of men who hatched an elaborate plan to rob the 800 crores of money Shukla had managed to accumulate. Bishnu wanted to seek vengeance for his deceased sister, who had been married to Shukla for a brief period. She was poisoned, and Bishnu knows it was Shukla who killed her. Shukla was ruthless from a young age, and there is no specific reason given as to why he killed his wife. Hopefully, if there is a second season, we will get to know more about his deceased wife.
The man had every reason to be worried about whether the money meant for eight MLAs would reach them or not, and keeping that in mind; he was willing to believe anyone’s words. Shukla was conned by Triloki, one of the co-conspirators of the heist, who assumed the role of Choona Maharaj. Shukla wanted to safeguard his money, and he would go to a great deal of trouble to make sure the entire process did not get derailed because of any unforeseen circumstances. Shukla is usually not the kind of person who will get carried away, but there’s a first time for everything. He fell for Choona Maharaj’s words, and it was the only reason for his downfall.
All these men whom Shukla managed to irk in the past successfully managed to rob the entire 800 crore worth of money from the party office without much hassle. Shukla did not see this coming because he had not expected certain people he thought he trusted would be a part of this gang. Bishnu, Ansari, and Pandit were the three people he could recognize from the gang, and he remained dumbstruck by how he allowed himself to be conned.
Shukla cannot report this crime because the money is unaccounted cash that could land him in jail. This robbery was done to teach the man a lesson and hope that Shukla could finally learn the power of a common man and their ability to bring him down. Avinash should have learned that money could buy him power for only a certain amount of time, and it is always the people’s mandate that matters. The robbers were idealistic, but Shukla most likely did not learn any lessons from this incident. A corrupt politician like him will never change, and prison time pushed his buttons more to bounce back with a bigger vengeance.
