Click here to follow Screen Digital on YouTube and stay updated with the latest from the world of cinema.
© IE Online Media Services Pvt Ltd
Tags:
Director Vikramaditya Motwane’s brainchild Sacred Games is arguably one of the most significant shows in Indian television history. Serving as India’s first Netflix original series, it paved the way for streaming giants to invest in the country and collaborate with talented filmmakers to produce exceptional content.
While the first season of the show, starring Saif Ali Khan, Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Radhika Apte in lead roles, made a profound impact and garnered widespread acclaim from both critics and audiences, the reception for the second season was quite different. The second season faced criticism, with some going so far as to claim that it tarnished the legacy of its predecessor. Speaking to film journalist Suchin Mehrotra on the debut episode of his podcast The Streaming Show, Motwane delved deep into what went wrong with the second season of Sacred Games and provided some interesting insights.
“Sacred Games Season 2 was rushed. We had a lot of time while doing Season 1. We are not geared for that. We need to train or create executives in this system, whether it’s studios or streamers. We need to create more showrunners who are pure writers and less of directors.”
Pointing out that the 12-month turnaround to deliver the second season of Sacred Games was like a “gun to the head” situation, Motwane said that since it was Netflix’s first original series based in India, it took the streamer some time to realise that this wasn’t the way forward, and that they can’t impose the same system that works in another market in India as well. “When you are not geared for it, how can you manage?”
“When they (Netflix) approached us initially, at Phantom Films, they said that while they wanted to create a streaming show, they wished to keep it cinematic and that was why they came to us. They also wanted me to direct either the first two episodes or the first and the last episodes, and rope in other directors (for the remaining episodes). When I asked them who the other directors were, they said they wanted to get Shakun (Batra) and Navdeep (Singh). I asked them why would Shakun and Navdeep work with me if I am telling them what to do. There was a lack of knowledge. This spilt over to season two as well. Because of this 12-month period, I didn’t have enough time to sit with the writers. I just wish we had more time,” he added.
In the first season of the series, Motwane and Anurag Kashyap jointly directed all eight episodes. However, in the second season, Motwane assumed the role of showrunner, relinquishing his directorial duties. Instead, Neeraj Ghaywan took over as the director, working alongside Kashyap.
Recently, lead actor Saif Ali Khan had also openly criticised the show’s second season. Saif had said that they ‘lost the plot’ with season two, which was slower ‘and more esoteric’ than the first season, which he said was pathbreaking.
Motwane responded to this in a mid-day interview by saying, “He’s Saif. You can’t hold a grudge against the things that he says. He’s Saif. He speaks his mind, and we love him for that. But you can say those things back to him, and he’ll take it. He respects that, and we respect him.”
Kashyap, too, had weighed in on the topic recently. Appearing on Mashable India’s The Bombay Journey YouTube series, Kashyap said: “Vikram Motwane was driving Sacred Games. Ten days before I was supposed to go shoot Mukkabaaz, he asked me to come on board. I told him I was always interested, but they had a problem with me. Some local people had told them that I didn’t have a female audience. It was my zone, and they eventually came around… A season three was supposed to come out, but they shut it down, Netflix would know why.”
Click here to follow Screen Digital on YouTube and stay updated with the latest from the world of cinema.
