The first Sacred games season 1 original series in India, it is directed by andwho produced it under their banner. The novel was adapted bySmita Singh and Vasant Nath. Kelly Luegenbiehl, Erik Barmack and Motwane served as the executive producers. Sartaj Singh is a troubled police officer in Mumbai who receives a phone call from gangster Ganesh Gaitondewho tells him to save the city within 25 days. The series chronicles the events that follow. Other cast members include,, and. The development of Sacred Games started after Erik Barmack, the Vice-president of contacted Motwane to create Indian content for the platform in 2014. They opted to adapt Chandra's novel in the local Indian language, to which Motwane agreed. After the script was completed, Motwane asked Kashyap to co-direct; Motwane directed the sequences involving Singh while Kashyap directed Gaitonde's. Swapnil Sonawane was the for Motwane; Sylvester Fonseca and Aseem Bajaj filmed the scenes directed by Kashyap. The first four episodes of Sacred Games premiered on 29 June 2018, with the full season of eight episodes released on Netflix on 6 July across 191 countries; it had subtitles in more than 20 languages. It received mostly positive reviews from critics, with particular praise for the performances and writing. In September 2018, it was announced that the series has been renewed for a second season. He receives an anonymous phone call from Ganesh Gaitonde, a notorious crime lord who has been missing for 16 years. He tells Singh to save the city in 25 days, which initiates a chain of events that burrows deep into India's dark underworld. In the journey, Singh is helped by a officer, Anjali Mathur. The first episode of Sacred Games starts off with a dog falling off a high-rise building in Mumbai, a plot element that will be emphasised later on in the season. Following that is the entry of Nawazuddin Siddiqui, as yesteryear gangster Ganesh Gaitonde, who hints that something sinister is about to happen in Mumbai. Running parallel is the story of junior Mumbai Police cop Sartaj Singh Saif Ali Khan who is looking for a big case to prove his mettle to the corrupt department he works in. He gets an out-of-the-blue call from Gaitonde himself giving him a tip about sacred games season 1 destructive that will happen in Mumbai in the next 25 days. Gaitonde claims to know Sartaj Singh's father. Sartaj Singh is able to trace Gaitonde's location, and the gangster shoots himself in the head in front of the cop. What follows is a flashback story, narrated by Nawazuddin Siddiqui himself, that focuses on the dark childhood and teenage life of the gangster that led him to become a ruthless criminal. With the death of Ganesh Gaitonde starts a 25-day countdown that carries on throughout the length of the show. Sacred Games now brings Bollywood to the fold, introducing an up and coming actress who seems to have some connection with Gaitonde; seeing the news of the gangster's death, she threatens someone to get her file from the murdered talent manager otherwise, else she would bring everyone down with her. Sartaj Singh is suspended by Deputy Commissioner of Police Parulkar for not cooperating with him in an investigation over misuse of power. Intertwined in between is the story of Gaitonde's emergence as the mega gangster of slums in 1980-1990s' Bombay. He is seen attempting to gather power, but sacred games season 1 up by a slumlord and gets his first visit from Parulkar, a sub-inspector back then. Notably, the parts of Nawazuddin Siddiqui's flashback have been shot by Anurag Kashyap, while Vikramaditya Motwane has shot the current-day scenes that involve Saif Ali Khan's character. The episode starts off with 'harmless' cop rivalry that involves sacred games season 1 blow to the face between Sartaj Singh and Majid, in classic Vikramaditya Motwane style. Sacred games season 1 before, a flashback starts and viewers are transported back to how Gaitonde met this gang member. It is then followed by Gaitonde's admiration and pursuit of a girl, Kukoo, who is involved with the rival gang's leader, Suleiman Isa. Events start pacing up fast and a shootout helps Gaitonde get the girl. Back in the current-day scenario, Singh and Mathur get closer to Bunty by laying a trap through Bunty's girlfriend. The setup is slammed wide open as Bunty catches sight of the hidden camera planted by Singh's informant, Nayanika. Singh, waiting right outside Bunty's house, is caught and taken into the house where he tries to goad the gangster into revealing the impending danger on the city of Mumbai. Bunty is seen rushing off to a warehouse complex in the outskirts of the city, where he meets with a mysterious man who has been seen in a couple of instances in the past few episodes, mostly involved in covering up evidence. Once again, the story goes back to gangster Gaitonde's past where he is shown climbing his way up the ladder by mingling with corrupt politicians and police officials. The episode ends with a cliffhanger that shows a burqa-clad individual pointing a gun towards Gaitonde, as part of the flashback. In 1992, as political unrest increases, Gaitonde and Isa's enimity drastically increases. The episode title refers to Sarama, a Hindu mythological being referred to as the female dog of the gods, who assisted the God-king Indra to recover divine cows stolen by a group of demons known as Panis. To save his informant, Sartaj Singh follows Bunty and his sidemen to the safehouse. The cop is cornered, though fortunately for him, Mumbai Police arrives. However, the informant Nayanika, whom Sartaj Singh feels responsible for, is also shot dead in the process. Back in Bombay in 1992, Gaitonde's terror spreads as his men take out rival gang members by the dozen. Gaitonde anyway decides to get married, sacred games season 1 his house maid. The story shifts to the Bollywood actress, mentioned initially in the second episode, who is blackmailed by her actor boyfriend to act in an in-house film production or risk getting caught in the Gaitonde scandal. The episode title refers to a Hindu text, read when the last rites of a deceased Hindu are performed. Having tried to find a link between his father and Gaitonde, Sartaj Singh turns to his mother but comes back without an answer. Meanwhile, the Bollywood actress uses a self-inflicted injury in a conversation with her police link to get her blackmailing boyfriend in trouble. On the sidelines of the plot runs a story of a small-town gang from a Muslim-majority slum of modern-day Mumbai. Sartaj Singh and his team of cops go after these thugs and the situation ends up getting violent. Singh's main sidekick is murdered as are all the hoodlums as part of a countermeasure. In the meanwhile, back in the 1990s, Gaitonde finds out about a traitor in his teame and takes action by killing the traitor and his brother. In the process an Egypto-Indian kills Anjali in Trivedi's house. The episode title refers to a Rigvedic deity associated with wind or storm. Despite having links with corrupt senior police officials, the Bollywood actress somehow gets cornered by honest sacred games season 1 Sartaj Singh who extracts names of suspicious individuals who might be involved with the incident expected to hit Mumbai in the next few days. In Anurag Kashyap's flashback story, rival gang members come to take a last hit at killing Gaitonde but end up murdering the gangster's wife. Gaitonde, for the next few days, goes on a rampage, killing innocent people on the streets of Mumbai. He also sets on fire entire slums filled with Muslim families. This triggers the city's police department sacred games season 1 put him in jail where he is beaten every day with no mercy - while he thinks this treatment is being meted out to him for the murders he committed, it is actually a sacred games season 1 for a godman to break his spirit, using the police. While Singh drifts off to find a secret location, Mathur Apte is shot dead by the same mysterious man in previous episodes. His discovery leads him to a large room full of dangerous weapons sacred games season 1 inside wooden boxes. The final episode of the first season of Sacred Games is full of twists and turns. We finally see the link between Gaitonde and Sartaj Singh's father, wherein the latter is just a helpful prison officer who helps the gangster with food and water during his torturous stay under lockup. Sacred games season 1 Singh, in his pursuit, is caught and tied right in front of the mysterious man, who is now revealed to be a key player of the upcoming attack, supplying weapons in trucks commissioned by the Union Home Minister. Mumbai Police officers track down Singh's location and take over the location that is filled with arms and ammunition. They decided to approach while looking for director and producer for the series. In 2014, writer-director met the team of Netflix during his visit to Los Angeles. Motwane had read Chandra's earlier novel Love and Longing in Bombay where the character of Sartaj Singh was introduced. Kashyap had read the novel in 2006 when it came out. In 2014, he had been approached by from to direct a series in English. Motwane and his writers gave the scripts to Chandra for feedback. The entire script was completed in a year. It is the first Indian original series for Netflix. The episode titles are inspired by. He was cursed with immortality by after the. In the series, Gaitonde calls himself immortal like Ashwatthama, but later commits suicide. Aatapi and Vatapi were two demons who used to trick travellers with hospitality and kill them. Brahmahatya means killing of awhich is a crime in Hinduism. In the episode, the Hindu Gaitonde agrees to try to attract Muslim votes for Hindu politician Bhosale. Pretakalpa learns the rites of a Hindu to perform the cremations. In this episode, Katekar is killed and Sartaj cremates him. Gaitonde's wife Subhadra is killed in this episode; he takes revenge by murdering her killers. The title sequence, logo, and title designs were designed by graphic designer Aniruddh Mehta and Mumbai-based motion lab Plexus, who drew inspiration from the Hindu mythology for the designs. Several changes were made while the team adapted the novel as a series. The character of Kuckoo, a woman, is mentioned in passing, as a dancer whom a police officer fell in love with. In the series, Kuckoo is an extended character and is shown as the love interest of Gaitonde. Similarly, the character of Malcolm Murad, who is mentioned once in the novel, has an extended role as an assassin. Few other changes were made. In the novel, the riots were a part of the story, whereas in the series, they are narrated by Gaitonde in glimpses. He said that he read bits of the novel but later dropped after he found it was not helping him find what needed as an actor. He also felt that a series gives more time for the character to be explored, unlike a film; he said he agreed to do the series as he wanted to explore the format. He called it the most complex character he has played so far. He said that it was easier to convince Apte and for the roles after Khan and Siddiqui were cast. Kabi was cast in the role of Parulkar, for which he researched from the novel. He also worked on his body language as it was mentioned in the novel for the character. He was selected for the role after giving an audition. Joshi took inspiration from real life police officers for the character. Actress played the role of Kuckoo, a transgender woman. She was asked to audition by Kashyap at the screening of Mukkabaaz at ; Sait auditioned and was eventually selected. She wore a penis made of prosthetic makeup between her thighs. He then got the role of minister Bipin Bhosale. Iranian actress was cast in the role of film star Zoya Mirza. The series' production design was handled by Shazia Iqbal and Vintee Bansal; served as the editor of the series. Swapnil Sonawane shot the portions directed by Motwane. Sylvester Fonseca and Aseem Bajaj shot the scenes of Kashyap. Kashyap started filming the series after the completion of and finished shooting in January 2018. Both Motwane and Kashyap shot the series separately; Motwane directed the present-day scenes with Khan and Kashyap filmed the Bombay of the 1980s with Siddiqui. Kashyap said that he shot and treated the series like a film. The time period of Gaitonde's story remained unchanged, while the present-day narrative was shifted to present from early 2000s. Chandra served as a script consultant in the series. Several shots were also mentioned in the script, like the introduction of Gaitonde as a kid, which was a top-angle shot, as in the script. After which Fonseca shot the rest of the scenes. The shootout sequence at Gaitonde's house, was shot at three different locations with long takes on Steadicam and sacred games season 1 shots. One of the scene with Sait involving frontal nudity, was shot in seven takes. A 58 second teaser was launched on 21 September. Kashyap will continue to direct while will replace Motwane as the director. The filming began in November 2018 with Siddiqui filming his portion inKenya while Khan in Mumbai. It was shot in a 50 day schedule with Ghaywan filming with Khan. Sacred Games is the first Netflix original series from India. In February, 2018, Netflix announced three new series, along with four others, making a total of seven series coming out of India. The first look of the main three characters: Singh, Gaitonde and Mathur were released by Netflix on 23 February 2018. It had individual stills of a sacred games season 1 spattered Singh, a perplexed looking Mathur and kurta pyjama clad Gaitonde. On 4 May 2018, the 55 second long teaser video was released. It was followed by the release of the official trailer on 5 June 2018. The series premiered in Mumbai on 28 June 2018 at thewhere only first four episodes were shown. The series was released on 6 July 2018 across 191 countries on Netflix with subtitles in more than 20 languages. Post the release, several mashup videos, art works and memes related to Sacred Games were released and circulated on social media. On 10 July 2018, the party member Rajeev Kumar Sinha, lodged a against Netflix, the showrunners and Nawazuddin Siddiqui, for allegedly insulting former Indian Prime Minister in one of the scenes. Another complaint was lodged on 11 July 2018 by the President of Youth and All Indian Cine Worker's Association, Suresh Shyamal Gupta for allegedly insulting Gandhi. The views of a character on a fictional web series can never change that. Netflix informed the on 19 July 2018 that a change had been incorporated in the English subtitle to remedy the alleged insult to Gandhi. Sacred Games was also subjected to piracy. The vice president of Netflix, Todd Yellin revealed that Sacred Games was watched by twice as many people outside of India. The show holds a 90% certified fresh rating on the review aggregator website based on 20 reviews, with an average rating of 6. Its relevance to our current moment cannot be overstated. Prashant Rao of The Hindu expressed that series captures the spirit of the book. It won five awards from 11 nominations including Best Actor Drama for Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Best Supporting Actor for Jitendra Joshi, Best Writing DramaBest Ensemble Cast, and Best Series Drama. Kashyap won the Best Direction fiction Award while Aarti Bajaj won the Award for Best Editing at the inaugural Asian Academy Creative Awards. Archived from on 21 September 2018. Archived from on 13 August 2018.
