Why we need to celebrate Netflix’s Sacred Games?

Sacred Games, starring Saif Ali Khan, Radhika Apte and Nawazuddin Siddiqui, has opened to a thunderous response, but not in the cinema halls but on the Internet. This Netflix presentation directed by Anurag Kashyap and Vikramaditya Motwane and written by Varun Grover, Smita Singh and Vasant Nath, is currently on the watch-list of everyone who’s yet to witness it.

For all those who have watched it, are currently binge-watching the show only because of the impact it leaves on their conscience. And because it’s jointly directed by Motwane and Kashyap, we witness a blend of grandeur and gore. Based in Mumbai, the show takes us into the dark and disturbed side of this ever-expanding city. This is a city where crimes are celebrated and gangsters revel in showcasing their hideousness. One such gangster is Ganesh Gaitonde, played by Nawazuddin, who can very much be described as the extended version of Raman Raghav from Kashyap’s psychotic drama, Raman Raghav 2.0. On the other side of the spectrum is Inspector Sartaj Singh, played by Saif Ali Khan, who embarks on a threatening journey to nab Gaitonde.

Sacred Games has all the staples one needs to make a visceral, unabashed cinematic potboiler. But given the redundancy and backwardness of our country’s Censor Board, it has made its way as a web-series of eight episodes. This is a BIG reason to celebrate as the digital space is perhaps the only place left where the art form isn’t sucked into the clutches of the banal censorship. And let’s not compare this with the American crime-drama, Narcos. Let’s celebrate the fact that we have our own Sacred Games!

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