Netflix have churned out another highly rated original series, but this is their first from India.
Following the success of series’ like Stranger Things and House of Cards, Netflix have now released Sacred Games.
Netflix know we all love a good thriller, and stayed safe with the formula by rolling out another one. The show focuses on a Sikh policeman in the Mumbai police force, Sartaj Singh, and a criminal named Gaitonde.
The series opens with a phone call from Gaitonde to Sartaj, informing him there’ll be an attack on the city in 25 days. And so the intensity begins.
IMDb expand on the storyline of the show, writing:
Sartaj Singh, a Mumbai police officer, receives an anonymous phone call from a gangster who threatens to blow up the entire city.
Amid the corrupt standards of Indian law enforcement, begins a battle between a ‘nobody’ cop and ruthless gangster who perceives (sometimes) himself to be a God.
The Netflix description reads:
A link in their pasts leads an honest cop to a fugitive gang boss, whose cryptic warning spurs the officer on a quest to save Mumbai from cataclysm.
The show debuted on Netflix on Friday (July 6), and has been a huge success already, scoring a rating of 100 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes, at the time of writing, with an audience score of 97 per cent.
The series has been released in attempt to reach out to Netflix‘s Indian market, where Wired report Amazon take the lead in streaming services.
If Netflix win India over, they could potentially have another 1 billion-plus viewers. The company are looking at India like Simon Cowell looks at an attractive 20-year-old boy who can sing – with dollar signs in their eyes and a ‘cha-ching’ sound in their head.
A review by Mike Hale in the New York Times seemed to have some good comments about the new original release.
Hale wrote:
“Sacred Games,” opens the latest front in Netflix’s international campaign: India, offering both a vast pool of potential subscribers and an entertainment industry with global appeal.
An array of future Indian projects has been publicized, but for starters Netflix has chosen a production from the same genre as a previous success, the American-Colombian “Narcos.” A gangster saga with a history lesson is apparently the best algorithm for cross-cultural success.
“Sacred Games” doesn’t feel generic, though. Energetic and entertaining, if not entirely satisfying (four of eight episodes were available for review), it toggles between stylized melodrama and loose-limbed satire — hewing, perhaps a little too closely, to the structure of Mr. Chandra’s sprawling novel.
Sacred Games is based on a novel written by Vikram Chandra, which was published in 2006.
As the book is a single entity rather than a series, Netflix might have to use their imagination if the show’s success warrants more seasons.
Fans on Twitter have also been praising the show, with one person writing:
Sacred Games is by far the best Indian piece out there on Netflix Please watch it if you haven’t!
Another commented:
You’ll watch Sacred Games (2018) sooner or later. Undoubtedly the finest ‘desi’ thing out there on Netflix.
Brilliant adaptation. Strong performances. Unabashed dialogues that’ll make you think. Not a boring moment in any of the 8 episodes.
The only downside was the low volume.
Sacred Games is by far the best Indian piece out there on Netflix ? Please watch it if you haven't!
— Saakshi? (@boobradleyblog) July 7, 2018
You'll watch Sacred Games (2018) sooner or later. Undoubtedly the finest 'desi' thing out there on Netflix. Brilliant adaptation. Strong performances. Unabashed dialogues that'll make you think. Not a boring moment in any of the 8 episodes.
The only downside was the low volume.
— Shakti Shetty (@Shakti_Shetty) July 7, 2018
Watch Sacred Games on Netflix now.
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Emily Brown first began delivering important news stories aged just 13, when she launched her career with a paper round. She graduated with a BA Hons in English Language in the Media from Lancaster University, and went on to become a freelance writer and blogger. Emily contributed to The Sunday Times Travel Magazine and Student Problems before becoming a journalist at UNILAD, where she works on breaking news as well as longer form features.