One of the key elements of a good thriller is to keep the audiences hooked from the word ‘go’ and Sacred Games: Season 1 nails this aspect with top-notch performances. The series is adapted from Vikram Chandra’s novel by the same name, published in 2006. While the series is quite a simpler version of the novel, its important nuances like political unrest, religion, terrorism, casteism all are weaved into the storyline with utmost precision. The story travels on two parallel tracks wherein one focuses on the rise of Gaitonde’s reign in the early 80s and 90s and the other focuses on Sartaj’s present-day quest to find the cryptic meaning behind a dying gangster’s last words.

Ganesh’s suicide brings fore not just his criminal connections but his hidden political, police, and filmy connections from his past. Also, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) is now involved in the investigation which is where Anjali, a RAW Wing Officer (Radhika Apte) comes in the picture. Although Gaitonde is dead, his voice still haunts Sartaj. Slowly, as Sartaj begins to dig deeper we are introduced to his professional and personal demons and goof-ups in the past. An urge to do things right this time gets him suspended from the case by his senior DCP Parulkar (Neeraj Kabi).

Sartaj now starts the investigation on his own with Anjali, making sure not to meddle the wrong ways with their seniors while battling their own issues. Slowly, Sartaj and Anjali start to unravel the secret of how DCP Parulkar, actress Zoya (Elnaaz Norouzi), home minister (Girish Kulkarni), assassin Malcolm (Luke Kenny), and Gaitonde’s former henchman Bunty (Jatin Sarna) are all connected to him and probably also in this case. However, for Sartaj the bigger puzzle is connecting the dots to find his father’s association with Ganesh and decode the mystery around Trivedi (Chittaranjan Tripathy) and Guruji.

One of the major highlights of the series is Ganesh’s relationship with Kukko (Kubra Sait) mistress of his former rival Suleiman Isa (Saurabh Sachdev). The unabashed use of profanity used by both men and women blended with a grim, gritty and a slight gore storyline makes it a thoroughly enjoyable binge-fest. Unlike a film, the canvas here is quite huge for storytelling and both Anurag and Vikramaditya have smartly turned it into their biggest strength.

Lastly, the music and the background score needs a special mention. Be it the retro songs that instantly lights up the screen or the dark, gritty, and suspense se bhara BGM, Alokananda Dasgupta nailed it all. The smartly packaged episodes, tight screenplay, stylish editing, breathtaking performances, and a cliffhanger ending is surely going to leave everyone asking for more.