Sacred Games (TV series)

Sacred Games
Series logo
Genre	Crime Neo-noir Conspiracy Thriller Mystery
Created by	Vikramaditya Motwane
Based on	Sacred Games by Vikram Chandra
Written by	Varun Grover Vasant Nath Smita Singh Prakhar Sharma Dhruv Narang Nihit Bhave Pooja Tolani
Directed by	Anurag Kashyap (Seasons 1-2) Vikramaditya Motwane (Season 1) Neeraj Ghaywan (Season 2)
Starring	Saif Ali Khan Nawazuddin Siddiqui Radhika Apte Pankaj Tripathi Kalki Koechlin Ranvir Shorey
Theme music composer	Alokananda Dasgupta
Composers	Songs: Phenom Divine Rachita Arora Background score: Alokananda Dasgupta
Country of origin	India
Original language	Hindi
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	16 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Kelly Luegenbiehl Erik Barmack Vikramaditya Motwane Vikram Chandra Anurag Kashyap⁣ Varun Grover⁣
Production location	India
Cinematography	Swapnil S. Sonawane Sylvester Fonseca Aseem Bajaj
Editor	Aarti Bajaj
Running time	43–58 minutes
Production companies	Phantom Films Reliance Entertainment
Original release
Network	Netflix
Release	6 July 2018 (2018-07-06) – 15 August 2019 (2019-08-15)
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Sacred Games is an Indian neo-noir crime thriller television series based on Vikram Chandra's 2006 novel of the same name. India's first Netflix original series, it was produced and directed by Vikramaditya Motwane and Anurag Kashyap as Phantom Films. The novel was adapted by Varun Grover, Smita Singh, and Vasant Nath. Kelly Luegenbiehl, Erik Barmack and Motwane were the series' executive producers.

Sartaj Singh (Saif Ali Khan) is a troubled police officer in Mumbai who receives a phone call from gangster Ganesh Gaitonde (Nawazuddin Siddiqui), who tells him to save the city within 25 days; the series chronicles the events which follow. Other cast members include Radhika Apte, Girish Kulkarni, Neeraj Kabi, Jeetendra Joshi, Rajshri Deshpande, Karan Wahi, Sukhmani Sadana, Aamir Bashir, Jatin Sarna, Elnaaz Norouzi, Pankaj Tripathi, Amey Wagh, Kubbra Sait, Surveen Chawla, Kalki Koechlin, Ranvir Shorey and Amruta Subhash.

Sacred Games began development after Netflix vice-president Erik Barmack asked Motwane in 2014 to create Indian content for the platform. They decided to adapt Chandra's novel in Hindi. After a script was completed, Motwane asked Kashyap to co-direct; Motwane directed the scenes with Singh, and Kashyap directed Gaitonde's scenes. Swapnil Sonawane was director of photography for Motwane; Sylvester Fonseca and Aseem Bajaj filmed the scenes directed by Kashyap. In the second season, Motwane reduced his involvement to showrunner and was replaced as director by Neeraj Ghaywan. Aarti Bajaj was the editor, and Alokananda Dasgupta composed the background score.

The first season of Sacred Games consisting of eight episodes was released on Netflix on 5 July 2018 in 191 countries. The series is subtitled in over 20 languages. It received mostly positive reviews from critics, with particular praise for its performances and writing. The first season is the only Indian series to appear on The New York Times' "The 30 Best International TV Shows of the Decade" list. The second season premiered on 15 August 2019, met with a mixed response.