''Cartel'' is an Indian action-drama web series produced by

Ekta Kapoor Ekta Kapoor (born 7 June 1975) is an Indian television producer, film producer and director who works in Hindi cinema and soap opera. She is the joint managing director and creative head of Balaji Telefilms Limited, which was founded in 1994. ...

under the banner of

Balaji Telefilms Balaji Telefilms is an Indian company that produces Indian soap operas, reality TV, comedy, game shows, entertainment, and factual programming in several Indian languages. Balaji Telefilms is promoted by Ekta Kapoor and Shobha Kapoor and is ...

. It stars

Supriya Pathak Supriya Pathak (born 7 January 1961) is an Indian actress who works in Gujarati and Hindi films and television. She has received multiple awards including three Filmfare Awards for Best Supporting Actress. She is mostly popular for playing th ...

Rithvik Dhanjani Rithvik Dhanjani (born 5 November 1988) is an Indian actor who primarily works in Hindi television and web shows. He made his acting debut in 2009, portraying Parth in '' Bandini''. Dhanjani earned wider recognition with his portrayal of Arju ...

Jitendra Joshi Jitendra Joshi is an Indian actor and reality show host who predominantly works in Marathi cinema. He is well known for his lead role as Sant Tukaram Maharaj in the 2012 marathi movie Tukaram. He starred as constable Katekar in the hit Netflix ...

Tanuj Virwani Tanuj Virwani is an Indian actor and model active in the Bollywood industry. He is best known for his role of Vayu Raghavan in the 2017 Amazon Original television series ''Inside Edge''. He has also played integral roles in Alt Balaji's '' Co ...

and Divya Agarwal. It was released on 20 August 2021.

Plot

The story revolves around 5 gang-lords of Mumbai. Khan, Anna, Angre, Gajraj and a mysterious movie producer form 5 gangs who rule the low-profile underworld in the city of dreams. While all 5 gangs operate in different parts of the city, order and harmony is ensured only due to one Iron lady, Rani Maai who sits on a throne and looks over the smooth functioning of events.

Cast

as Rani Mai *

as Abhay Angre *

as Ex-Major Arjun Mhatre/ Major Bhau * Divya Agarwal as Grizzey *

as Madhukar Mhatre/ Madhu Mhatre *

Monica Dogra Monica Dogra is an American musician and actress. She has acted in six feature films, as well as released five studio albums with the band Shaa’ir and func. She is a member on the judging panel of India's first English music talent show, ''The ...

as Maya *

Samir Soni Samir Soni is an Indian film and television actor, director and former fashion model. Career Soni made his debut in the Hindi serial '' Samandar.'' In 1996, he appeared as Ashok Mathur in Doordarshan's '' A Mouthful Of Sky''. He made his film ...

as Dorabjee *Shubhrajyoti Barat as Gajraj *Sushrii Mishra as Vaidehi *

Tannishtha Chatterjee Tannishtha Chatterjee is an Indian actress and director best known in the west for her performance in the British film ''Brick Lane'' (2007), the film adaptation of Monica Ali's best selling novel of the same name Girija Oak Girija Oak is an Indian actress known for her performances in ''Taare Zameen Par'' and ''Shor in the City''. Career Oak made her debut on the big screen at the age of 15. She acted in Marathi movies including ''Goshta Choti Dongraevadhi'', ''G ...

as Rama *

Pranati Rai Prakash Pranati Rai Prakash is an actor and Indian fashion model best known as the winner of India's Next Top Model 2016 edition. She was also a semi-finalist at Miss India 2015. She has featured in web series, her titular show being Mannphodganj Ki ...

as Sumi * Krishna Kaul as Javed *

Aditi Vasudev Aditi Vasudev is an Indian actress, known for her roles in the comedy-drama film ''Do Dooni Chaar'' (2010) and the comedy film '' Sulemani Keeda'' (2014). She has made her TV debut in the serial ''Meri Aawaaz Hi Pehchaan Hain'' in February 2016, ...

as Shweta * Mayur More as Chiru *Gaurav Sharma as ACP Dixit *Kannan Arunachalam as Anna * Vibhav Roy * Nabeel Ahmed * Aanchal Goswami *

Amey Wagh Amey Wagh (born 13 November 1987) is an Indian Marathi actor known for films such as ''Popat'', ''Faster Fene'', '' Muramba'', ''Girlfriend''. He was recently seen portraying Kushal in season 2 of '' Sacred Games'' and Rasool Sheikh in '' Asur ...

as Dhawal *Riya Sobudh * Sanaya Pithawalla as Shreya *

Mrinal Dutt Mrinal Dutt is an Indian actor and model who primarily works in Hindi films and Hindi television along with web shows. He made his acting debut with '' Roomies'' in 2009 and had his breakthrough with ''Private Investigator''. He made his film d ...

as Yograj * Anil George as Khan * Ashwath Bhatt as Chairman *

Mrinal Das Mrinal Das (14 January 1948) is an Indian trade unionist. Mrinal Das was elected general secretary of the Bengal Provincial Students Federation in 1970. He also became a member of the all India secretariat of the Students Federation of India. L ...

as Suraj

Release

The official trailer of the web series was launched on 1 August 2021 by

MX Player MX Player is an Indian video streaming and video on demand platform developed by MX Media & Entertainment (formerly J2 Interactive). It has over 280 million users globally. The platform currently operates on an ad-supported model and has a stre ...

on YouTube.

Reception

Joginder Tuteja for ''

ABP News ABP News is an Indian Hindi-language free-to-air television news channel owned by ABP Group. The news channel was launched in 1998 originally as STAR News before being acquired by ABP Group. It won the Best Hindi News Channel award in the 2 ...

'' rated 4 stars out of 5 and wrote "Cartel is an impressive show and rest assured, the work would have begun on the sequel due to the inherent dramatic quotient that it carries. An epic gangster drama, it works immensely due to the family set up which makes it different from usual underworld affairs." Sukanya Verma of ''

Rediff Rediff.com (stylized as ''rediff.com'') is an Indian news, information, entertainment and shopping web portal. It was founded in 1996. It is headquartered in Mumbai, with offices in Bangalore, New Delhi and New York City. , it had more than 300 ...

'' rated only 1 star out of 5 stars and wrote "There's no tension, no thrills, no logic, no humour, no darkness and not an iota of entertainment." Bharathi Pradhan for ''

Lehren Lehren Networks Private Limited is a network of media and entertainment websites about India's entertainment industry, primarily Bollywood and related extensions. The company is located in Mumbai, India, and was founded by Mritunjay Pandey. Leh ...

'' gave 3 stars out of 5 and wrote "A starlet’s death which evokes remarks that followed the suicide of a famous star last year, a birthday party held at gun point, a wedding anniversary, family celebrations and loss of lives at every turn, keep the story moving." Archika Khurana for

The Times of India ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English language, English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the List of newspapers in India by circulation, t ...

"In a nutshell, if the gang wars are your thing, this ‘Cartel’ will provide plenty of murder, slaughter and gunfights."

References

External links

* ALTBalaji original programming Indian drama web series 2021 web series debuts Hindi-language web series {{India-tv-stub