Sacred Games, featuring Bollywood stars Saif Ali Khan, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, and Radhika Apte, is now available on Netflix. It is the first original drama series produced by the streaming media giant, while several others are in production to attract Indian viewers.
The story of this crime thriller is based on the 2006 novel of the same name by Vikram Chandra. All eight episodes of the series are jointly directed by Anurag Kashyap and Vikramaditya Motwane, who is also the co-founder of the production company Phantom Films.
Watch the trailer here for Season 1 – Sacred Games:
Sacred Games is a story of crime, passion, betrayal, glamour, and grit that’s set against the volatile socio-political and crime world of Mumbai. The first couple of episodes of the series is bang on setting the tone of the premise that looks very interesting from the point of view of Mumbai’s crime world and the deep-rooted corruption in the system.
The series starts with a non-performing cop Sartaj Singh (Saif Ali Khan) getting an anonymous caller from Gaitonde (Nawazuddin Siddiqui), a notorious criminal thought to be missing or dead for over a decade. With constant chat over the call, he informs Singh that something big is going to happen in Mumbai in 25 days, which will kill everyone.
Inspector Sartaj Singh follows the location of the caller and finds Gaitonde in a bunker-like place but before Singh attempts to reach him, Gaitonde shoots himself. This follows a chain of events revealing the story layer by layer.
The pace of the series has been designed well with enough suspense and thrill to keep us engaged. Overall, the characterization has done very intelligently with varied shades of personalities.
The story floats alternatively in the present day with Singh trying to decode the message of Gaitonde, and the past of in which Gaitonde rose to be the next big crime lord in Mumbai. Interestingly, we also see the narration drawing parallel to some of the key political events in India from the 70s to 90s, including the 1975 emergency and the attempts of communal polarization.
Saif Ali Khan as Sartaj Singh has delivered an amazing performance by playing an honest cop constantly trying to prove himself by staying on the side of morality and humanity. On the other side, Nawazuddin Siddiqui is playing a menacing role that we have previously watched in films like Gangs of Wasseypur 2. Other co-actors like Radhika Apte and Jitendra Joshi have supported the vision of the directors.
Overall, Sacred Games is a good crime thriller both as a typical Bollywood drama as well as the likes of many other dark Hollywood crime series. Nevertheless, you will find the story and characters interesting, as the likes of Saif and Nawazuddin essay two great roles. A must-watch indeed!
Where to watch Sacred Games (2018)
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