SAIF comes home WITH COP ACT

Mumbai’s underworld makes for good story-telling and VIKRAMADITYA  MOTWANE is attempting a global hit with Sacred Games, says Team Viva

A deadbeat cop, who finds himself trapped in a corrupt police system and who wants to do something worthwhile to emerge out of his father’s shadow, gets an anonymous tip-off that might rescue him from his morass. So it is that Sartaj Singh goes chasing notorious criminal Ganesh Gaitonde and burrows himself deep in the innards of an urban underbelly. Would that turn into an international hunt? 

At least that’s what independent streaming platform Netflix is pondering as it plans to replicate a Narcos-like experiment with Saif Ali Khan through the series Sacred Games. Saif, who hasn’t quite found a comfort zone in the mainstream Hindi film industry that would test his acting chops, plays the conflicted Sartaj battling demons, both inside and outside. While online shows have dissolved borders, one wonders if this darkly realistic tale will find followers among our youth, addicted as they are to Western formula. But Indians are hooked to crime and this show traverses the complex layers of politics and everything in between. Dark and gritty, it plunges you right in the middle of the action from the first episode.

Based on the novel by the same name by Vikram Chandra, who has previously written dark and hard-hitting movies like Mission Kashmir, this series will explore Mumbai’s underbelly that encompasses drugs, mobs, shootouts and rivalries. Recreating the crime world of the 80s and 90s, directors Vikramaditya Motwane and Anurag Kashyap have teamed up with a cast to-die-for. With Saif Ali Khan, Radhika Apte, Nawazuddin Siddique, Surveen Chawla, Rajshree Deshpande, and Anupriya Goenka on the list, the eight episode series kicked off with a screening at PVR Icon, DLF Promenade. Though Saif was not present, his mother Sharmila Tagore showed up for the preview of a content-driven project that is expected to be a game-changer.

Siddique will be seen in his comfort zone, yet again, playing an underworld mafia. He is excited to have eight hours to showcase Ganesh Gaitonde’s character, unlike the censored three hours of cinema. “The script was written with a lot of details because the story is told in eight episodes, which means an eight-hour show. As an actor, I got a chance to go close to the character. It has a much nuanced portrayal on-screen. It has not only given me a chance to go deeper into the character but also explore the possibility to work on a scene better,” said he. “Since the digital platform is quite open to people these days, many are coming in the business and making shows. Some of them are good and some are sub-standard. But Netflix has maintained a quality. As we all know, the level is of international quality and it caters to the global audience. So when we are acting, we know that we have to bring our best game on the table,” he added.

Apte, who was last seen and appreciated for her role in Lust Stories, is back with another powerful role. This time, she plays a RAW agent, Anjali Mathur, who takes over the investigation of the death of the gangster Gaitonde.

“This has been a dream project and I want to thank everyone who came together to provide such an enormous platform for the book,” said she. Completing the gangster-cop duo, Khan will be seen playing the cynical Mumbai police officer with anxiety issues, Sartaj Singh.

The freedom that this medium offers was deeply explored by the filmmakers. “It was challenging for both of us to tell a story in a longer format, especially to write the story in such a way that can keep the audience engaged. We have not done an eight-episode long story as we come from a feature film background where we tell a story within a maximum of two and a half hours. Having said that, it is a relatively new format for Indian filmmakers like us, so we had to adapt ourselves in it. So, we learnt in the process,” said Motwane.

The first episode began with a Bollywood touch. A dramatic phone call from Gaitonde to Singh propels the plot forward, establishes context and events that are to come. He alludes to their past connection through the cop’s father. Siddique can be seen building the foundations of his career in crime in the first episode and the plot of the series. With scenes of dark humour, the sense of urgency and the freedom to express the emotions of anger, love, lust without any barrier, the episode ends with Singh finding Gaitonde in the corner of a room, ready to shoot himself dead.

The episode leaves the audience curious about what will happen after 25 days and the connections between the characters. The slow-paced series definitely creates curiosity to binge watch the eight episodes on July 6.

The Mere Gully Main hit maker, rapper Divine, in collaboration with music composer Phenom, has used his old hit Jungli Sher and composed a new one Kaam 25 for the series. The show will be released in 190 countries and the makers await the worldwide reviews, where the audience is unaware of the previous work of the team and its creators. The first episode is promising, building up a strong base for the series to mould its shape. It definitely urges you to make space in your must watch list.

“It’s been a long journey with Netflix, it started more than two years ago, it was one of the epic shots that took so long but now it’s here and it is ready,” said Motwane. He and Kashyap have collaborated in the past to give the world movies like Lootera (2013), Bombay Velvet (2015), Udta Punjab (2016) and believe that they understand each other by default.       (With IANS)