Zee 5’s new spy thriller, Berlin, by Atul Sabharwal, revolves around Pushkin, an ordinary teacher who must interrogate Ashok Kumar, who is suspected of being an ISI spy involved in a plot to assassinate the Russian president. What’s Ashok’s real motive, and who else is in on this conspiracy? Let’s dive into the cast and characters to find it out.
Spoilers Ahead
Pushkin Verma
We all know how talented Aparshakti Khurana is after his brilliant performances in Stree and Jubilee, and his performance as Pushkin Verma in Berlin really shows promise. Pushkin, like you and me, is just an ordinary man—a government teacher at a deaf and mute institution who had no idea he’d get caught up in something so dark and dangerous when he was asked to work with the Intelligence Bureau to interrogate Ashok, the so-called deaf and mute “spy.” At first, Pushkin thought that his job was very simple; to just ask questions and get answers, but as Pushkin got to know more about the case, he started to realize the harsh truth about how the government officials had tried to frame Ashok to cover their own mistakes. Hence, naturally, the faith Pushkin had in the government was broken, because you can imagine how, as a common man, he believed that the government was there to work for and protect ordinary people. Instead, he saw how powerful individuals like Justice Chief Sondhi from the Bureau and the Wing officers manipulated everyone to save themselves and deceive ordinary people like him. Therefore, rather than believing the lies everyone else accepted, Pushkin trusted Ashok—the “Pakistani deaf and mute spy”—because Ashok was the only one who seemed honest. Pushkin tried hard to save Ashok from these corrupt officials, even though his own life and his family’s lives were at risk, but in the end, he couldn’t. Even though Pushkin knew the whole truth, he had to remain silent. He watched as the innocent Ashok was taken into custody and branded a spy, despite the fact he had nothing to do with it, and Pushkin had no choice but to stay silent, as it was a lost battle.
Ashok Kumar
I’ve seen Ishwak Singh in Rocket Boys and Paatal Lok before, but his portrayal of Ashok Kumar in Berlin as the deaf and mute “spy” is truly impressive. Ashok didn’t remember much about his childhood, since he grew up in an orphanage, so he had no idea who his parents were. The only thing he remembered was studying at the Sarada Devi Institute for the Deaf and Mute. Even though he loved football, he never really got the chance to play because people only saw his disability, not his talent. People either pitied him like he was helpless or took advantage of him—there was no in-between. No one treated him like a normal human being. That’s why he was hired at the Berlin Café, a hangout for government officials, where his condition worked for them, as he was like a wall who silently kept secrets and prevented conversations from spreading. But Ashok became an observant person who noticed the planning and plotting of the officials and gathered information about the assassination plot against the president from the chits they used to throw or the eye contact or information they used to share, he saw it all. Ashok also saw how a woman was being suspected by two RAW officers, and he just wanted to protect her, it could be because of the way she looked at him that he felt she needed his help, and he wanted to give her a sense of freedom. Ashok took a huge risk when he tracked down government official Mahajan’s house, sneaked in and gathered compromising photos of the woman with Sondhi and a German gun. But when Mahajan suddenly entered the house with Bureau officers, Ashok killed one of them, and then he managed to take Mahajan and the pictures with him and went to the woman’s house to give her those pictures. Maybe he loved her and that’s why he wanted her to escape from here, even though he knew his life was doomed. In the end, when Ashok found out from Sondhi that the woman had been killed, that her body had been discovered at Pushkin’s house, and that Pushkin’s fingerprints were on the murder weapon, Ashok knew he had to save Pushkin. Ashok couldn’t save the woman, but Pushkin had been kind to him, he’d treated Ashok like a human, not just a suspect, and Ashok felt a deep sense of gratitude. To repay that kindness, Ashok made a fake confession. He took the blame and made a fake confession of how he was an ISI spy and how he and the woman had planned the assassination and in the end let the woman escape after Ashok arrest, even though he was innocent. He knew Sondhi had played him, but he did it for his “friend,” Pushkin, and ended up in jail.
Jagdish Sondhi
Jagdish Sondhi, played by Rahul Bose, is the real villain of the story in Berlin. As the Justice Chief of the Intelligence Bureau, Sondhi used to work under Cheif played by Kabir Bedi, where Sondhi knew from the start that he was the one who caused this whole mess as he got honey-trapped by an ISI woman he had an affair with, who managed to steal information from his house about the Russian president’s upcoming visit to India, which the KGB had shared with Sondhi. His carelessness led to this sensitive information being compromised, which allowed the assassination plot against the president to be formed. Wing officers Mr. Mahajan and Mr. Mehta were aware of what had happened but kept the information to themselves and did not report it to their superiors, which gave Sondhi an easy way out. When the woman was found dead in Ashok Kumar’s presence, Sondhi shifted the blame onto the wing officers to protect himself. But that wasn’t enough, in order to fully cover his tracks, he manipulated not just Ashok but also these officers. When Pushkin, the ordinary man, started piecing together the truth and realized that Jagdish was the main culprit, Sondhi knew he had to silence him. First, he had the ISI woman killed and planted her dead body and the murder weapon in Pushkin’s house. He then tried to frame Pushkin for the murder, so Pushkin wouldn’t dare accuse him of anything. Sondhi even forced Ashok to make a fake confession, claiming it was the only way to save Pushkin and keep everyone safe, including himself. Jagdish Sondhi knew how to play his cards, and he did exactly that. In the end, with his power and lies, he succeeded in saving himself, leaving others to take the fall.
Mr. Mehta and Mr. Mahajan
Mr. Mehta, played by Nitesh Pandey, and Kapil Mahajan, played by Ujjwal Chopra, were RAW officers who had discovered the connection between the ISI woman and Jagdish Sondhi. They knew Sondhi was involved with her, and to stop the assassination plot, they tried to get information from her. They even went as far as threatening her by showing her compromising photos of her with Sondhi to make her talk. However, things took a dark turn when the Intelligence Bureau caught both Mehta and Mahajan at the ISI woman’s house along with Ashok Kumar, and in the end, they killed the woman by stabbing her in the back. In the end, thanks to Ashok’s sacrifice, Mehta and Mahajan managed to get out of jail, with their names cleared and their reputations saved.
Satpal Dhingra and Ram Narayan
Satpal Dhingra, played by Jigar Mehta, was the case officer working on the investigation, while Ram Narayan, played by Prashant Singh, was his assistant in the Intelligence Bureau under Jagdish Sondhi. What the Bureau didn’t know was that Ram Narayan was also secretly working as an informant for RAW. Ram Narayan eventually revealed the entire scam involving the government officials and how they were manipulating Ashok for their own benefit. He was the one who revealed everything to Pushkin at the end to expose how the officials were playing dirty to cover their tracks.
Employment Agent
The Employment Agent, played by Naveen Gupta, doesn’t have his name revealed in the show, but his role is very important. He was the one responsible for taking deaf and mute students from the Sarada Devi Institute, people like Ashok, and placing them at the Berlin café. Their job was to blend in to either pretend to be waiters or even officers and act like a “wall” to stop any secret information from being overheard or traded in the café, this was how they were unknowingly used in the larger scheme of things.
Woman
Anupriya Goenka played the role of the ISI woman whose name we don’t know, but she cleverly honey-trapped Jagdish Sondhi to get secret information about the Russian president’s travel plans in India. Her goal was to use this information to plan the president’s assassination. However, in the end, things didn’t go as planned for her, and she was betrayed. The Intelligence Bureau and Wing officers eventually turned on her, and she was killed by them to cover up their own mess.
