Sacred Games: The answer to your existential crisis

Given all the hype around Sacred Games it was but natural that I’d end up watching it. I haven’t read the book hence I am not comparing the show to the book. My primary reason for watching this show was Anurag Kashyap and Nawazuddin Siddiqui. I have loved their combo since 2012 when I watched Gangs of Wasseypur. I am a tad bit ashamed to mention that the language used in both Sacred Games and GoW helps me vicariously channel my extensive vocabulary in cussing.

I liked how the story began. This isn’t a slow narrative, you basically have to run with the characters to catch up with their mind and emotions and sometimes have to see between the frames. I live on the extreme ends of storytelling arch. I love the slow narrative where each and everything is described in such a manner that you feel you are in that situation and you start feeling what the character feels and then there is the impromptu situation where you are unexpectedly put in and you have to start catching up with why the characters are doing what they are doing. Both are fun ways to sit back and enjoy a show. Sacred Games falls under the latter category.

Ganesh Gaitonde is that don who has only one purpose and that is to be the city he lives in – Bombay. The show takes us through his journey from Trimbakeshwar to Bombay and how as an adult after pedaling in drugs he decides by and by that he is meant for much more than that. He dreams big and he sets his ambition into action. We see ruthlessness in him which is a pre requisite of being a don but at the same time we see him trying to make his gang walk the secular line so as not to have religion come into play. You and I and that is if you were born in the 80’s will nod your head at the narrative of the story when scenes of unrest are shown in the post Indira Gandhi era that has left the nation broken and at the same time has become that “gap” that Politicians use as their mosh pits come election season.

Gaitonde claims he has three fathers and tells us about each one and how they influenced his life and made him who he is.

Then we have Sartaj, the Sikh inspector who is trying really hard to battle the internal corruption in police services by refusing to give a false statement in court. His refusal becomes leverage for his superior who dangles his refusal as bait at every opportunity that Sartaj needs back up or when he works on a lead.

Sartaj has his own emotional baggage. His wife has left him and he hasn’t gotten over her. This I presume is what leads him to consume anxiety pills. We see a little bit of emotional instability in him but not so much that we question his judgment as he pursues his cop instincts.

Anjali Mathur, the RAW agent who wants to step out into the field and not just stay behind her desk. She, like Sartaj, follows her instincts and teams up with Sartaj to save the city. Except she believes there is more to the story than just a gang war. Of course she is stopped from acting on her hunch and evidence because hey she’s a girl and girls can’t go out and play after sundown. Like Sartaj she also has her own reasons for being who she is and that is what propels her into going forward to uncover the roles of different people in the story.

Kookoo, I think was a metaphor for the city itself and whoever had Kookoo had Bombay. That’s all that I’ll be saying about this character.

These are the primary characters and these characters all have very obvious roles to play and are definitely the leads but for me it was the secondary actors who did all the work in making me hate and love the plot.

Kanta Bai, who is so freaking stoic even when there is chaos around her and even when things are going bad she is just there strong as a pillar and not scared of Gaitonde. Probably because she is more like a mother to him, after all it’s all thanks to her that he gets his first break.

Katekar, is that constable who is at Sartaj’s beck and call. Even though he represents the constable in the series he is also doing the added job of being the common man’s voice when he is expressing his opinions as a person. Most of us have skewed perspectives based on the news and political speeches we are fed.

Malcolm Murad, was a decently surprising character. I liked him in entirety except in one place when he did something out of character.

DCP Parulkar's character has been portrayed so well! He makes you hate him. He makes you want to plough through his body with a rain of bullets. I like it when actors actually make you believe they are really that bad.

The dialogues are amazing, even the ones making a jibe at political situations. Don’t know who Shah Bano is? Google her. I like how one-liners were used to tell months’ worth of tense situations in the country.

But is this the best story ever told? No. Was the story predictable? Yes. Were we told anything different with this story? No. So what exactly is the show’s USP? Acting!

My Rating: 4/5

Recommend: Hell yeah! *___________________* (I wanted to insert a very Gaitonde-esque dialogue here. Please fill in the blank for yourself.)