Netflix's Sacred Games Gets First Trailer

Netflix has released a teaser trailer for its upcoming Indian original, Sacred Games. The crime thriller is based on Vikram Chandra's 2006 novel of the same name, and follows a Mumbai police officer named Sartaj Singh (Saif Ali Khan) who's after a powerful crime lord Ganesh Gaitonde (Nawazuddin Siddiqui). Radhika Apte plays RAW analyst Anjali Mathur, and Anupriya Goenka is also part of the show.

The teaser trailer for Sacred Games opens with Gaitonde setting fire to something, and then proclaiming: "Sometimes, I think I am God." From there, we get quick-cut introductions to Singh and Mathur, and shots to establish its setting and tone: a dead body, the Mumbai skyline, a dance bar, gold bars, someone packaging drugs, and lots of guns. It then closes with the line: "Do you believe in God?"

It's clear from the teaser that Sacred Games is going for a gritty Narcos take, and it'll be interesting to see if the directors, Anurag Kashyap and Vikramaditya Motwane, can land it without being over-the-top. Kashyap does have a good track record with crime thrillers, with Gangs of Wasseypur, Black Friday, and Raman Raghav 2.0 under his belt. Motwane doesn't have as much experience in the genre, though his upcoming film Bhavesh Joshi does seem to be leaning towards it.

Sacred Games is one of seven Indian Netflix originals currently in production, as the streaming service looks to strengthen up its local offerings in the country. Amazon has released two original dramas since the arrival of Prime Video – Inside Edge, and Breathe – and has a dozen more in the pipeline.

All eight episodes of Sacred Games' first season will be available July 6.