Relax… No Spoilers !!!

I’m not going to Ruin the First Indian Netflix Original For You… But Promise Me… You’ll watch it.

Promise ?

Ok! Now those who know me, they know that I’m a die hard fan of Anurag Kashyap and Nawazuddin Siddiqui. I’ve been following their films for as long as I can remember. Now, Anurag Kashyap is someone, who has fought with censor board of India for more times one could count. But this series proved, when his hands are not tied. He can go all in, and make that gamble work.

That’s exactly what happened with Sacred Games. Although I have not read the original Vikram Chandra novel. But I hope it won’t disappoint me when I do read it. But as the series is Concerned, ‘Blown Away’ will be an Understatement.

Anurag Kashyap’s Filmmaking style went through paradigm shift from ‘Ugly’. Gangs of Wasseypur, Dev D, No Smoking were in a different regime. I believe. From ‘Ugly’ things became intense, quirky and Goosebumps initiating. Raman Raghav 2.0 gave me the creeps. And those who can still follow what I am trying to say, ‘Sacred Games’ has the quirks of ‘Raman Raghav 2.0’ and the storytelling of ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’.

Nawazuddin is ‘Ganesh Gaitoinde’, the Gangster. And make no mistake, he is no ‘Faizal Khan’. Nawzuddind played yet another gangster, and I’m no one to comment on his acting prowess; but Ganesh Gaitonde has nothing in common with Faizal, and that’s the genius of Nawaz. Saif Ali Khan as Sartaj Singh is more cop, and less sikh. Niraj Kavi is fantastic. Radhika Apte is Apt (no pun intended).

I’m not a fan of Nudity of Sex in screen, but nothing felt out of place. The violence and sex was very necessary to establish Gaitonde’s psyche and his ruthlessness. The timeline of the show spans over two decades, which has given the opportunity to design some great set pieces and period costumes and music. Vikramaditya Motwane, the co-director of Anurag Kashyap did and equally wonderful job.

The local language theme included loads of Marathi, Punjabi dialogues along with Hindi, which only enriched the raw flavour of the series. The season ended with an expected cliff-hanger and twists and turns (some of them, you might not expect). The way the series progressed, there should be One More Season (at least). I binged the whole season in exactly 26 hours; and ended up craving for more. Watch it, recommend it, love it, hate it… But, you can’t deny or ignore Sacred Games.

I hope this series comes as a wake-up call for CBFC; and they realise, what miserable job they are doing, poking their nose in everything, and putting certified ‘Tharki Uncle’ (Read Pahlaj Nihalani) in charge. And in future, we see more and more series like this; in more and more platforms.

Who knows? Maybe an Indian will pick up an Emmy someday…

Peace…

Neel…