Sacred Games

I don't binge-watch shows. The last time I did that was when House of Cards Season 4 released and I regret that decision. But when you have a series directed by mavericks like Anurag Kashyap and Vikramaditya Motwana, starring heavy guns like Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Saif Ali Khan, Radhika Apte and many others, I though of giving it a chance and it was something that I did not regret. I did not binge watch the series. The series made me binge-watch itself.

Adapted from Vikram Chandra's novel released in 2006 by the same name, Sacred Games is the first series to come out of the seven other Indian original content signed by the streaming giant Netflix and the best one I have seen on a streaming service so far. It deals with the things like Mumbai's underworld, corruption, politics, religion, bit of glamour and Bollywood. Something that Kashyap is well acquainted with.

Now do I even need to tell you about Nawazuddin Siddiqui who portrays the powerful performance of the fictional gangster Ganesh Gaitonde? It comes naturally to him and is something that he has already done in Gangs of Wasseypur. So it's only natural that Kashyap chose him for this role. Coming to Saif Ali Khan. The character of Sartaj Singh might very well his best performance in recent times. The body language and expressions to play a low-performing cop is spot on. He is so natural at this. Now coming to another lead of this series, Radhika Apte who plays a RAW agent. Now I don't have much idea about how RAW agents work and look like but she doesn't look like one in the series. Maybe the directors wanted her character to be as close to reality as possible and hence such a portrayal. Nevertheless, she doesn't disappoint. She is anyway turning out of be a digital content queen of India.

Even the supporting characters such as Jitendra Joshi who portrays a typical Maharashtrian cop Constable Katekar, Neeraj Kabi who plays Inspector Parulkar or be it Kubra Sait who plays Kukoo, a transgender male, have all given stellar performances. Sacred Game's casting game is lit.

Coming to more creative and technical things like direction and cinematography, it is at par with any other international series we watch. Infact, the cinematography made me feel a bit of love for Mumbai, contrary to what I feel about the city. The direction is simple, straightforward and upto the point. There wasn't a single shot which I felt shouldn't be there. But what makes the storytelling of Sacred Games interesting is its screenplay. The Nolan-Goyer style of transitioning into the past and jumping back to the present keeps things interesting. This way we can see the origin story of Ganesh Gaitonde in the past as well as that of Sartaj Singh in the present. The small nuances and dialogues about god, religion and politics are very powerful. Credits to the respective writers Vikram Chandra, Varun Grover, Vasant Nath and Smita Singh.

Overall, with Sacred Games, the makers have done something that they wanted to do but could not due to the various regulations of what should and shouldn't be shown to the Indian audiences. This is Netflix. Something that the whole world watches and Sacred Games is made accordingly. So many different sides have come out. I loved where a scene focuses on the transgender issue and how she feels. Nudity occurs in many scenes, not expected but a welcome change. These are the limitations from which the makers have broken free and have been able to present us such a wonderful show.

Sacred Games not only breaks free from the rules of the Censor Board but also proves that the time of fantastic shows by Indians has arrived. Move aside Heisenberg and Pablo Escobar, Ganesh Gaitonde and Sartaj Singh are here, and they will be here for a long time.

So while I wait for season 2, you go watch the first season of Sacred Games!