# Sacred Games (2018)

> An honest Mumbai police officer is drawn into the orbit of a fugitive gang boss whose cryptic warning sets him on a quest to prevent a city-wide cataclysm.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/68329

## Facts

- Seasons: 2
- Episodes: 16
- Episode runtime: 50 min
- Status: Canceled
- Genres: crime, drama, action
- Created by: Vikramaditya Motwane
- Network: Netflix
- Cast: Saif Ali Khan, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Jitendra Joshi, Pankaj Tripathi, Radhika Apte, Kalki Koechlin, Neeraj Kabi, Chittaranjan Tripathy
- TMDB rating: 8.5/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6077448/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: strong
- Complexity: dense
- Violence: brutal
- Tone: dark, brooding, tense, fatalistic, gritty

## What critics say

Audiences broadly acclaim the first season's crime thriller craft and performances, while the second season is seen as weaker.

## Synopsis

Sacred Games (2018-2019) is a Netflix crime thriller from India created by Vikramaditya Motwane and produced by Phantom Films, running two seasons across sixteen episodes before its cancellation. Saif Ali Khan plays Sartaj Singh, an honest police officer whose buried link to a fugitive gang boss pulls him into a hunt for the criminal's trail, while Nawazuddin Siddiqui plays Ganesh Gaitonde, the underworld figure whose cryptic warning sets the quest in motion. Radhika Apte as Anjali Mathur and Jitendra Joshi as Constable Katekar round out a cast of investigators and operatives caught between loyalty and corruption. The engine of the series is an investigation that keeps colliding with bought officials, political fixers and gang wars, with each episode weaving present-day pursuit against the gangster's past. Set in 1980s and 1990s Mumbai, the story unfolds across a city crowded with smugglers, informants and crooked power brokers. The tone is dark, brooding and tense, with a fatalistic sense that the metropolis is hurtling toward disaster. Violence, torture and drug trafficking are depicted with unflinching seriousness. Fans of The Wire and Narcos will find resonance in its layered institutional rot and its criminal underworld.

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