Sacred Games (TV series)

Erik Barmack, the vice president of Netflix, came across Vikram Chandra's 2006 crime novel, Sacred Games, while they were searching for content for Indian and the global audience. He called it "an interesting property" and decided to adapt it in Indian language.[6] They decided to approach Phantom Films while looking for director and producer for the series.[6] In 2014, writer-director Vikramaditya Motwane met the team of Netflix during his visit to Los Angeles.[7] Motwane had read Chandra's earlier novel Love and Longing in Bombay where the character of Sartaj Singh was introduced. After the meeting, he read Sacred Games and thought it was "great".[8] He said the best thing for him was that they wanted to make it in Hindi and not in English, as according to him "speaking in English can seem so fake at times."[6] He started working on the adaptation of the novel with writer Varun Grover and described the writing as the "biggest challenge".[7]

Motwane said that the digital series medium was "liberating" as he was able to tell stories that "don't have to be told in two-and-a-half hours with an interval and three songs inserted into it."[9] Initially, Motwane considered bringing different directors on board for each episode: "As we got closer to production, we realised that dates were clashing and that it was an overall nightmare [..]."[10] He suggested that Anurag Kashyap co-direct the series with him, as Motwane felt that the two "distinct voices" were essential for the "parallel tracks" of story. Kashyap said he "gobbled" on the opportunity as he was fascinated with the novel.[7] Kashyap had read the novel in 2006 when it came out. In 2014, he had been approached by AMC from Scott Free Productions to direct a series in English.[11] Kashyap had declined the offer, as he did not want to do "anything based in India in English".[12] Motwane and his writers gave the scripts to Chandra for feedback. "Chandra is so research-intensive that we didn't have to approach another researcher, we just had to ask him questions."[10] The series was written by Grover, Smita Singh, and Vasant Nath.[13] One of the writers, Smita Singh, said that in 2016, they were told by Phantom Films to adapt the novel and "it had to be a gripping, slow-burner".[14] The research was headed by Smita Nair and Mantra Watsa, who summarised every chapter and made the "complex plot easily accessible" to the writers.[14] The entire script was completed in a year.[14] Nath said that in the beginning of the writing process, they were "chucking away some important characters from the original, and bringing in new ones".[14] It is the first Indian original series for Netflix.[7]

The episode titles are inspired by Hindu mythology. The first episode titled "Aswatthama", was based on the namesake character from the Sanskrit epic Mahabharata. He was cursed with immortality by Krishna after the Kurukshetra war. In the series, Gaitonde calls himself immortal like Ashwatthama, but later commits suicide.[15] "Halahala", another episode, was named after a poison of the same name, which was retrieved from Samudra manthan.[15] Aatapi and Vatapi were two demons who used to trick travellers with hospitality and kill them.[15] Brahmahatya means killing of a Brahmin, which is a crime in Hinduism. In the episode, the Hindu Gaitonde agrees to try to attract Muslim votes for Hindu politician Bhosale.[15] Sarama is referred to as a dog. Pretakalpa learns the rites of a Hindu to perform the cremations. In this episode, Katekar is killed and Sartaj cremates him.[15] Rudra is the angered version of Shiva. Gaitonde's wife Subhadra is killed in this episode; he takes revenge by murdering her killers.[15] Yayati was king cursed with premature old age.[15] The title sequence, logo, and title designs were designed by graphic designer Aniruddh Mehta and Mumbai-based motion lab Plexus, who drew inspiration from the Hindu mythology for the designs. Mehta said that each emblem was a contemporary take on "stories from ancient Hindu scriptures, mandala's, mixing modern design elements with characters from the Indus Valley Civilization" that were derived from the episode titles.[16]

Several changes were made while the team adapted the novel as a series. The character of Kuckoo, a transgender woman, is mentioned in passing, as a dancer whom a police officer fell in love with. A constable narrates this to Sartaj, describing Kuckoo as "beautiful as a Kashmiri apple". In the series, Kuckoo is an extended character and is shown as the love interest of Gaitonde.[17] Similarly, the character of Malcolm Murad, who is mentioned once in the novel, has an extended role as an assassin.[17] Few other changes were made. In the novel, the riots were a part of the story, whereas in the series, they are narrated by Gaitonde in glimpses.[17]

The series marked actor Saif Ali Khan's first venture into television

Several characters in the series speak different Indian languages like Hindi, Marathi, Punjabi and Gujarati. Kashyap mentioned that it gives a "real sense of what India is".[18] Saif Ali Khan called the series an experiment and said he agreed to do it because "people are willing to watch programmes from other countries with sub-titles because good stories transcend boundaries."[19] Khan found an "interesting arc" in the character of Sartaj Singh and called it "troubled and honest". He said that he read bits of the novel but later dropped after he found it was not helping him find what needed as an actor.[9] Radhika Apte played the role of Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) officer Anjali Mathur. Apte called her character a "completely no-nonsense, focused woman who's highly respected in her field and by her peers."[9] She mentioned that her character is not glamourised unlike the Hindi film's depict a RAW agent and did not read the novel.[9] Kashyap said that the novel is about "how Bombay became Mumbai" and the series gives "a sense of the city, where it came from and where it is today."[20]

Nawazuddin Siddiqui said that he treated the role of a gangster as a human being. He also felt that a series gives more time for the character to be explored, unlike a film; he said he agreed to do the series as he wanted to explore the format.[21] He called it the most complex character he has played so far.[9] Khan read the short story Kama, written by Chandra, to "delve into his character's angst."[18] The character of Sartaj Singh was changed from the novel who is described as a thin and tall police officer to a muscled heavyweight. Khan said that changes were made to make the character look "visually engaging" who is a "slightly more charged-up version of the passive officer in the books".[18] Kashyap called Gaitonde the "sum of all we like in movie characters."[22] Motwane said that Siddiqui was his first choice to portray Gaitonde because he "plays gangster so well" and "has that aura and almost everything that's required to play a gangster."[23] He expressed that casting popular actors like Khan and Siddiqui was a conscious decision as it also "drives a larger audience to watch. He said that it was easier to convince Apte and Neeraj Kabi for the roles after Khan and Siddiqui were cast."[10] Kabi was cast in the role of DCP Parulkar, for which he researched from the novel.[24] He also worked on his body language as it was mentioned in the novel for the character.[25] Jitendra Joshi played the role of constable Katekar, who is Sartaj's colleague. He was selected for the role after giving an audition.[26] Joshi took inspiration from real life police officers for the character.[27]

Actress Kubbra Sait played the role of Kuckoo, a transgender woman. She was asked to audition by Kashyap at the screening of Mukkabaaz at MAMI Film Festival; Sait auditioned and was eventually selected.[28] She said the lack of references for the role made it "the most challenging experience" of her career. She wore a penis made of prosthetic makeup between her thighs.[29] Jatin Sarna played the role of gangster Deepak "Bunty" Shinde, which he got after auditioning.[30] Rajshri Deshpande played the role of Siddiqui's wife, Subhadra.[31] Girish Kulkarni was originally offered the role of constable Katekar, which he declined as he wanted a character "that would figure in both Sartaj and Ganesh Gaitonde's world". He then got the role of minister Bipin Bhosale.[32] International actress Elnaaz Norouzi was cast in the role of film star Zoya Mirza. Despite her small role she garnered huge fan following on Instagram for her crisp Hindi accent and bringing a breath of freshness amidst high-tension drama in the series. [33] The series' production design was handled by Shazia Iqbal and Vintee Bansal; Aarti Bajaj served as the editor of the series. Swapnil Sonawane shot the portions directed by Motwane. Sylvester Fonseca and Aseem Bajaj shot the scenes of Kashyap.[34] Anish John served as the sound designer.[35]

Motwane started filming in September 2017.[36] Kashyap started filming the series after the completion of Mukkabaaz and finished shooting in January 2018.[37] Both Motwane and Kashyap shot the series separately; Motwane directed the present-day scenes with Khan and Kashyap filmed the Bombay of the 1980s with Siddiqui. Motwane called the exercise of shooting individually an "experiment".[7] Kashyap said it was "painfully difficult" to find the "pockets of Bombay which has kept itself like it is".[20] Chandra was working on the novel at the same time Kashyap was working on his film Black Friday (2007), so he "knew the real-life parallels" in the novel.[20] Kashyap said that he shot and treated the series like a film.[7] Motwane said that apart from leaving out small details, they have "stuck to the spirit of the book".[8] Motwane said that he tried to balance the series between "making it for a worldwide audience [and not alienating] everybody over here."[18] Motwane said that he felt liberated to tell the story without being confined to a three-act structure.[10]

Sacred Games was shot on different real locations in Mumbai including Byculla, as it was set in a period, which Motwane expressed was a "huge logistical challenge".[7][38] The time period of Gaitonde's story remained unchanged, while the present-day narrative was shifted to present from early 2000s.[10] Motwane explained that it was because of a "similar sort of government [today] and the vibes are the same, so the threat felt a lot more present".[20] Chandra served as a script consultant in the series.[39] According to Sonawane, "a lot of changes happened on the shoot".[34] Several shots were also mentioned in the script, like the introduction of Gaitonde as a kid, which was a top-angle shot, as in the script.[34] He chose to shoot Sartaj Singh's sequences with "worn-out but very warm lenses that reflect how nothing is working out in Sartaj's life."[34] Yellow colour palette's were used in scenes involving Gaitonde because of the "guru that he has begun to follow."[34] Bajaj shot for 27 days, but left after he was involved in another project. After which Fonseca shot the rest of the scenes. He used spherical lenses to shot in order to "demarcate" the world.[34] The shootout sequence at Gaitonde's house, was shot at three different locations with long takes on Steadicam and hand-held shots.[34] One of the scene with Sait involving frontal nudity, was shot in seven takes.[40]

In September 2018, it was announced that the series has been renewed for another season.[41] A 58-second teaser for promoting the second season was launched on 21 September 2018.[42] Kashyap will continue to direct while Neeraj Ghaywan will replace Motwane as the director.[43] The filming began in November 2018 with Siddiqui filming his portion in Nairobi, Kenya while Khan in Mumbai.[44] It was shot in a 50-day schedule with Ghaywan filming with Khan.[45] The series was extensively shot in Mombasa, Cape Town and Johannesburg.[46][47] The shooting was finished on 20 February 2019.[48] The second season premiered on 15 August 2019.[49]