''Dharavi Bank'' is an Indian

crime drama Crime film is a film belonging to the crime fiction genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and fiction. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine with many other genres, such as Drama (film and television), dr ...

television series A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming plat ...

directed by

Samit Kakkad Samit Kakkad is an Indian filmmaker and director. He is best known for directing ''Aayna Ka Bayna'' (2012) which was selected for 18 International film festivals and ''Half Ticket (2016 film), Half Ticket'' (2017) which won the Ecumenical Jury ...

and produced by

Zee Studios Zee Studios is an Indian film production and distribution company, that specializes in film, streaming, and television, content development and production. It also specializes in film marketing and distribution. It is based in Mumbai, India, ...

. It stars

Suniel Shetty Suniel Shetty (born Sunil V. Shetty; 11 August 1961) is an Indian actor, film producer, television host, and entrepreneur, primarily known for his work in Hindi cinema, with appearances in Tamil films. Nicknamed as Anna, Shetty has appeared in ...

Vivek Oberoi Vivek Anand Oberoi (born 3 September 1976) is an Indian actor and businessman. The son of actor Suresh Oberoi, he began acting in 2002 with starring roles in the Hindi crime film ''Company'' and romantic drama '' Saathiya''. His performances ...

Sonali Kulkarni Sonali Kulkarni (born 3 November 1974) is an Indian actress, producer, and writer who primarily appears in Marathi, Hindi and few Tamil films. Kulkarni is considered as one of the most accomplished and highest-paid actresses in Marathi cinema, ...

and Samikssha Batnagar. The series marks Suniel Shetty's OTT debut.

Cast

Cast list credited from original show *

as Thalaivan *

as Jayant Gavaskar * Samiksha Bhatnagar as Irawati “Ira” Gavaskar, Jayant's wife * Shruti Shrivastav as Sakeena * Santosh Juvekar as Santosh Mhatre * Anngad Raaj as Vinayak "Veenu" Gavaskar, JCP Jayant Gavaskar and Irawati's son *

as Janvi Surve * Siddharth Menon as Veerbhadra *

Vamsi Krishna Vamsi Krishna is an Indian actor who predominantly works in Telugu and Tamil films. He made his debut in '' Gharshana'' (2004) and went on to play the antagonist in films including ''Thadaiyara Thaakka'' (2012) and '' Ivan Veramathiri'' (2013) ...

as Shiva *

Shantipriya Shanthipriya is an Indian actress and a dancer who has worked predominantly in Tamil language, Tamil ,Telugu language, Telugu and Hindi films. She is credited as Nishanthi in Tamil films and Shanthipriya in Telugu and Hindi films. She is the you ...

as Bonamma *

Freddy Daruwala Freddy Daruwala (born 12 May 1984) is an Indian model and actor who works in Hindi films. Personal life Freddy Daruwala was born on 12 May 1984 in Surat, Gujarat. He is of Parsi and Gujarati descent. He holds a Master of Business Administrat ...

as Mahesh *

Luke Kenny Luke Kenny is an Indian actor, film director, producer, music director, composer, and former VJ. He began his career as a DJ, followed by a successful stint as the first male VJ on Channel V. He gained widespread recognition for his role in t ...

as Michael *

Bhavana Rao Bhavvana Rao an Indian actress who has predominantly appeared in Kannada language films. She made her debut in the Kannada multistarrer '' Gaalipata'' (2008) and gained immense popularity and winning critical acclaim for her performance, befor ...

as Deepa, Thalaivan's daughter *

Nagesh Bhosle Nagesh Bhosale is an Indian film, television and theatre actor. He acted in ''Anuja'' which is nominated at the 97th Academy Awards (Oscar 2025) in the live action short film category. He also worked on the 2018 film ''Hotel Mumbai'', alongs ...

as Ghanshyam Mhatre * Hitesh Bhojraj as undercover police sharpshooter * Rohit Pathak as Rajan, Thalaivan's son-in-law * Jaywant Wadkar as Franchis *

Chinmay Mandlekar Chinmay Mandlekar (born 2 February 1979) is an Indian actor, writer and stage director, mostly active in the Marathi entertainment industry. He is known for his work in Zenda, Morya, ''Farzand'' (2018), '' Fatteshikast'' (2019), ''The Kashmir ...

as Daji Malusare * Krishnakant Singh Bundela as Muslim Vodoo Man

Plot

The series narrates the rise of Thalaivan (Sunil Shetty) as the most influential person of Dharavi as well as the Godman of many politicians. For political benefit the Chief Minister Janvi Surve (Sonali Kulkarni) calls JCP Jayant Gavaskar (Vivek Oberoi) and orders to kill Thalaivan. Gavaskar takes the order both personal (as Thalaivan killed his child) vengeance and professional assignment. The conflict between Gavaskar's Mumbai police and Thalaivan's gang starts, but some political turns save Thalaivan.

Filming

The series has been shot in the constricted lanes of

Dharavi Dharavi is a residential area in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. It has often been considered one of the world's largest slums. Dharavi has an area of just over and a population of about 1,000,000. With a population density of over , Dharavi is o ...

, India’s largest slum.

Release

''Dharavi Bank Session 1'' streaming started on

MX Player Amazon MX Player, formerly known as MX Player is an Indian video on demand and Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, streaming service, owned by Amazon (company), Amazon India. The platform currently operates on an Online a ...

from November 19, 2022.

Episodes

Reception

''Dharavi Bank Season 1'' received both positive and negative reviews.

Saibal Chatterjee Saibal Chatterjee is an Indian film critic, editor and documentary screenwriter. He was a columnist at ''BBC News'', ''Business Standard'', ''Hindustan Times'' and '' The Financial Express''. He has also written for ''The Telegraph'', ''The Tim ...

for ''

NDTV New Delhi Television Ltd is an Indian news media company focusing on broadcast and digital news publication. It was founded in 1984 by economist Prannoy Roy and journalist Radhika Roy. NDTV began as a production house for news segments, ...

'' gave 2/5 stars and wrote "Dharavi Bank sorely lacks the sort of narrative reserves that can fuel a compelling thriller." Abhimanyu Mathur for ''

Hindustan Times ''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English language, English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media Limited, an entity controlled by the Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia, the daughter o ...

'' wrote "Dharavi Bank will appeal to some, the ones who like the old-fashioned gangster dramas with over-the-top action. But the show is too old-fashioned and not in a classic way." Archika Khurana for ''

The Times of India ''The Times of India'' (''TOI'') is an Indian 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, third-largest newspaper in India by circulation an ...

'' gave 3/5 rating and wrote "Suniel Shetty outshines everyone in his OTT debut as the brutal and vivacious gang lord of Dharavi. Right from his serious gaze to the protectiveness of his family and his wearing of the crisp white Mundu, Anna proves to be a perfect fit for the role of Thalavian." Manik Sharma for ''

Firstpost Firstpost is an Indian news website owned by Network18 Group, which also runs CNN-News18 and CNBC TV18. It has posted misinformation on multiple occasions. The Network 18 group was originally owned by Raghav Bahl. In January 2012, the gro ...

'' wrote "The plotline, as a whole, moves with the steady but ultimately predictable pace of a Gangster v Police war where betrayals, rats and spies abound." Shipra Darmwal of LeisureByte concurred, stating that the "twists are predictable" and furthermore the series "does not offer anything new".

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, 23333666 Indian drama web series 2022 web series debuts Hindi-language web series MX Player original programming Works set in slums