Handsomely mounted and executed

Kavikulaguru

The first original Indian series from Netflix; had a lot of expectations. I can safely say that most were adequately met, even exceeded.

While admittedly the story has nothing new to offer, this Bombay gangster series is stylishly shot and executed with finesse. Bombay becomes a character in the series and the chasm between the classes which is so in-your-face in Bombay is captured beautifully. All major cities have class differences but none of them are as stark and apparent as they in Bombay. I was also happy to see it called by its old name of "Bombay" in English and "Bambai" in Hindi -felt authentic.

The story itself is a cat and mouse game involving a variety of characters - mob bosses, religious figures, a gender-neutral character, corrupt cops, the inevitable honest cop, a female cop from a central police agency. While stereotypes are rift, there some funny touches. The nick names given by the female CBI officer to store numbers on her cell is an example as is the track of the police constable trying to get an intimate moment with his nagging wife.

The ending leaves plenty of scope for a sequel - I do not wish to get into spoilers but what is a thoroughly satisfying series seems subject to an abrupt end.

Saif Ali Khan is top notch and quite unlike an Indian hero for he keeps getting beaten up with alarming regularity but his character is the moral compass of the show. Nawazuddin predictably owns every scene he is in - it is an extension of his character from Gangs of Wasseypur. How you miss Manoj Bajpai though.

A great thing about Anurag Kashyap is that he is able to find character actors who leave such a strong impression on the screen. And "Sacred Games" is no different.
All the character actors are uniformly excellent.

I tried listening to the track in English and it is atrocious. Not only does it take away from the authenticity of the proceedings, it is also badly dubbed. Imagine watching Narcos in English. Whoever took a decision to add a dubbed English track needs to given some counseling.

If you want a better experience, watch the show in Hindi with English sub-titles.

Vikram Chandra's novel "Sacred Games" was a critically acclaimed book, but it was a commercial failure. The writers have done a good job salvaging what is a middling novel at best. How I wish these same writers would employ their considerable skill to a nice World War era Indian thriller.

I look forward to more original Netflix Indian series soon.

score 7/10

Kavikulaguru 7 July 2018

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw4228959/