Sacred Games does perhaps my biggest pet peeves when it comes to TV shows, and that is ending the first season on a cliffhanger when there is no guarantee of a renewal for a second. If the show wasn’t all that interesting to begin with, it’s something I certainly can live with, but when it’s as good as this – I need those new episodes asap!
So, a little bit of context. Sacred Games is the latest Netflix Original Series to hit the streaming service, and it’s significant because it’s also the very first one to be produced in India. Weird that it’s taken the company this long to really tap into the second most populous market in the globe, but I’m glad it’s here, and I’m curious to see what else they have coming up (there’s apparently seven shows, including this, that were commissioned).
The series is based on the book of the same names by Vikram Chandra, adapted for the screen by Varun Grover, Vasant Nath, and Smita Singh, and each episode is directed by Anurag Kashyap, and Vikramaditya Motwane, who have previously collaborated on films like Udaan, and Dev D. It’s essentially about Sartaj Singh (Saif Ali Khan), an honest cop trying his best to serve in the vast city of Mumbai, who one day basically stumbles into a notorious crime lord, Ganesh Gaitonde (Nawazuddin Siddiqui), who has reemerged after 16 years only to shoot himself and set Sartaj on a deep, dark dive into the world of gangsters, politicians, corrupt cops, movie stars as he tries to stop a plan that puts the entire city at stake.
On paper, a lot of the plot details seem rather familiar. Lots of hardboiled fiction, film noir, gangster movies, etc. However, the plot (which even I occasionally got lost in) isn’t what makes the series special. What makes it effective is the devotion to create this oppressive atmosphere of misanthropy and nihilism, where the filmmaking gives the environment this tactile, gritty quality that never goes away. Plus, there’s an added spiritual undertone to it, as well as a dark sense of humor, which gives the series its own distinct flavor. Even with that, it’s as far from feel-good entertainment as you can get. Like Sartaj, we – the audience – find ourselves sinking deeper and deeper into the abyss, and it probably smells terrible.
Similar to other films by both Kashyap and Motwane, it isn’t just settling for cheap thrills. The story is weaved in a way that allows certain nuances of the culture to shine through. Characters and the actions they take are very heavily informed by religion, socioeconomic status, their communities, and various other factors that provide interesting insight, even within the relatively tight time frame that the show deals with – since each of the eight episodes are roughly 50 minutes on average.
Like a lot of crime fiction, the female characters tend to get the short end of the stick, and with this show, it swings back and forth between actively commenting on the treatment of women in India and just treating women badly. But there are some humanizing moments, such as this transwoman character played by Kubra Sait, who is not treated poorly by others, not the butt of any jokes, or any of the things you would typically see in a role like this, which is great, despite being played by a cigendered woman. I appreciate the time that the show spent making her compelling in her own right before it eventually got to business as usual. The show also has a compelling female lead played by Radhika Apte (who we recently saw in Lust Stories), who plays a RAW (Research and Analysis Wing, basically CIA) agent who works along with Sartaj for a chunk of the show.
But of course, where the show really shines is in the various flashbacks following the rise of Ganesh Gaitonde. I’ve always considered Nawazuddin Siddiqui to be among the best actors in the world right now, and he brings a quiet menace to his performance here that is truly something to behold. He knows how to deliver dialogue that leans on the lyrical, and making it seem both spontaneous and calculated at the same time. Given the spiritual undertones and the whole notion of him posing the idea of being a God, it gives his whole story a mythological vibe that keeps you entranced.
I think Sacred Games is really stellar work. It’s not flawless, and it’s most certainly not even finished, but I was intensely engaged for each episode. It’s not the kind of show that leaves you feeling good about the world, or your fellow man, but it’s a fascinating look at people who have succumbed to their inner-darkness and those who have managed to thwart it. Performances are great all around, there’s a slick style to the filmmaking, the dialogue has a lot of bite, and the bursts of violence are appropriately horrific. If you’re in the mood for a show that is absolutely not messing around (warning: the first episode literally opens with a dog death), then this might be for you. I really hope Netflix officially announces a second season soon because I want to know where this goes, and I’m too lazy to read the book.