Sacred Games2018

There’s beauty in the way that all of this sinister intrigue is conveyed, but it’s a surface-level telling of a story that wants to have so much more in its grasp.

As horrifyingly violent as any Hollywood crime drama, Sacred Games is nevertheless unique and very Indian. It begins like a Mumbai-based underworld drama, focused on a tough, dedicated cop and his nemesis, a deadly gang boss from the slums. There are corrupt officials, hot and loose women, dedicated criminal soldiers, and turf wars between gangsters. It almost seems like an American "Godfather" type saga, only set in India. However, unique elements come in to this picture, especially when the boss goes off to an ashram and becomes enamored of a mystical guru. The bloodshed becomes tiresome, but the music, the cinematography, and the acting are all so brilliant that I had to see it thru to the end.

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.