Sacred Games is an Indian television thriller series based on Vikram Chandra's 2006 novel of the same name. Created by Vikramaditya Motwane, the first season was directed by Motwane and Anurag Kashyap, who produced it under their banner Phantom Films.[1] The story follows a troubled police officer, Sartaj Singh (played by Saif Ali Khan), who receives a phone call from gangster Ganesh Gaitonde (played by Nawazuddin Siddiqui); Gaitonde tells him to save the city within 25 days. The series chronicles the events that follow while tracing Gaitonde's past.[2]
Other cast members include Radhika Apte, Girish Kulkarni, Neeraj Kabi, Geetanjali Thapa, Jeetendra Joshi, Rajshri Deshpande, Karan Wahi, Aamir Bashir, Jatin Sarna, Elnaaz Norouzi Kubra Sait, Surveen Chawla, Pankaj Tripathi, Kalki Koechlin, and Ranvir Shorey.[3] The series was conceived after Erik Barmack, the vice-president of Netflix, contacted Motwane in 2014 to create Indian content for the platform. They opted to adapt Chandra's English novel in the Hindi language, to which Motwane agreed.[4] Varun Grover, Smita Singh, and Vasant Nath wrote the episodes of the first season; Grover, Dhruv Narang, Nihit Bhave, and Pooja Tolani wrote the second season.[5]
Swapnil Sonawane, Sylvester Fonseca and Aseem Bajaj served as director of photography. Aarti Bajaj was the editor and Alokananda Dasgupta composed the background score. The second season was directed by Kashyap and Neeraj Ghaywan.[6] The first season of the series was mostly shot in Mumbai; the second season was shot over different locations of Delhi, Mombasa, Nairobi, Cape Town and Johannesburg.[1][7] Each episode of Sacred Games is named after a story or character derived from Hindu mythology.[8][9] The first season premiered on 5 July 2018 on Netflix and received positive reviews with particular praise on performances and writing.[10][11] The second season premiered on 15 August 2019.[7] A total of 16 episodes have aired over the two seasons with eight in each.[9]
- ^ a b Sahani, Alaka (4 July 2018). "Anurag Kashyap: Vikram Chandra has written amazing love letters to Vikramaditya Motwane after watching Sacred Games". The Indian Express. Archived from the original on 5 July 2018. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
- ^ Sen, Raja (4 July 2018). "'Sacred Games' is worth playing". Mint. Archived from the original on 4 July 2018. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
- ^ "Sacred Games". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on 24 April 2019. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
- ^ Choudhary, Vidhi (7 July 2018). "Sacred Games: How India's first Netflix original came together". Hindustan Times. Archived from the original on 15 July 2018. Retrieved 31 July 2018.
- ^ Sharma, Sampada (15 August 2019). "Sacred Games Season 2 first impression: Exactly what your long weekend needs". The Indian Express. Archived from the original on 16 August 2019. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
- ^ "Sacred Games Season 2 Trailer Out Now, Release Date Revealed". NDTV. 9 July 2019. Archived from the original on 25 July 2019. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
- ^ a b "Every Detail You Need to Know About Sacred Games Season 2 Before it Premieres at Midnight". CNN-News18. 14 August 2019. Archived from the original on 16 August 2019. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
- ^ "Sacred Games: From Aswatthama to Yayati, decoding the meaning behind every episode in season one". Firstpost. 13 July 2018. Archived from the original on 17 June 2019. Retrieved 17 August 2019.
- ^ a b "Sacred Games 2 all episode titles decoded by Netflix". India Today. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
- ^ "'Sacred Games' review: Saif Ali Khan's Netflix series garners positive reviews worldwide". The Free Press Journal. 10 July 2018. Archived from the original on 13 July 2018. Retrieved 6 August 2018.
- ^ Lynch, John (9 July 2018). "Netflix's first original series from India, 'Sacred Games,' is an addictive crime thriller with a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes". Business Insider. Archived from the original on 26 July 2018. Retrieved 25 July 2018.