The Indian web series, Mastram, has been making waves in the digital space since its release in 2020. Created by Ekta Kapoor and Shobha Kapoor, the show is loosely based on the life of Indian adult film star, Rakesh Ranjan, also known as Mastram. The series explores the complexities of human desires, the adult entertainment industry, and the societal norms that govern our perceptions of sex and relationships.

The series’ most significant achievement is its refusal to judge its subject matter. It treats erotic fiction as a legitimate, if underground, art form. We watch Rajaram painstakingly craft his stories—developing plots, creating recurring characters (the archetypal “Mohan” and “Rekha”), and even worrying about narrative pacing. His muse is his repressed neighbor, a single woman whose natural, uninhibited existence becomes the raw material for his fantasies. The show draws a clear line: the writer is not his work. While Mastram’s stories are exaggerated, formulaic, and operatic in their sexuality, Rajaram remains a shy, stammering, and essentially decent man. This duality is the central thesis of the series. It suggests that creativity, especially of a forbidden nature, is often a safe valve for pressures that cannot be released in polite society. The lurid pages of Mastram’s pamphlets are a direct mirror of the suffocating silence of his living room.

Jha portrays the innocent, conflicted writer with a grounded performance praised by critics.