''Grahan'' is an Indian

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

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 created by Shailendra Kumar Jha and directed by Ranjan Chandel for

Hotstar Disney+ Hotstar, also known as JioHotstar or simply Hotstar, is an Indian subscription video-on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Disney Star. The brand was introduced as Hotstar for a streaming service carrying content from Di ...

based on the book ''Chaurasi'' by Satya Vyas. The series stars

Pawan Malhotra Pavan Malhotra (born 2 July 1958) is an Indian actor who works in Hindi films and television alongside Punjabi and few Telugu films. He has received several awards including a Filmfare OTT Award and a Filmfare Award South. He has played ...

, Zoya Hussain, Anshumaan Pushkar and

Wamiqa Gabbi Wamiqa Gabbi (born 29 September 1993) is an Indian actress who predominantly works in Punjabi cinema, Punjabi and Hindi cinema, Hindi films and series. She made her screen debut as a child with a brief role in the Hindi film ''Jab We Met'' (20 ...

. The series premiered on Hotstar on June 24, 2021.

Overview

Amrita Singh, a young IPS officer, resigns fed up with political interference at work, opting to marry her longstanding beau in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. That's when she learns that her father Gursevak Singh, a Sikh himself, is a prime accused of

1984 anti-Sikh riots The 1984 anti-Sikh riots, also known as the 1984 Sikh massacre, was a series of organised pogroms against Sikhs in India following the assassination of Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards. Government estimates project that about 2,800 Sikhs w ...

in Bokaro,

Jharkhand Jharkhand (; ) is a States and union territories of India, state in East India, eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north ...

. Amrita decides to stay on in the police force to unravel the truth. Through Amrita’s investigation emerges a tender love story of trust, betrayal and supreme sacrifice, where we see a beautiful old-world romance of Rishi and Manu, a

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

boy and a

Sikh Sikhs (singular Sikh: or ; , ) are an ethnoreligious group who adhere to Sikhism, a religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Guru Nanak. The term ''Si ...

girl in 1984. As the story progresses, secrets from the past about identities and relationships come tumbling out one after another, while at the social-political canvas the situations in 1984 and 2016 present some chilling and uncanny similarities too.

Cast

as Gurusevak / Rishi Ranjan (older) ** Anshumaan Pushkar as Rishi Ranjan (younger) * Zoya Hussain as SP Amrita Singh *

as Manjeet Kaur Chhabra / Manu (younger) **Donny Kapoor as Manjeet Kaur Chhabra / Manu (older) * Teekam Joshi as Sanjay Kumar Singh / Chunnu Babu * Sahidur Rahman as DSP Vikas Mandal *Abhinav Pateriya as Jaydev Agarwal / Jhandu *Namrata Varshney as Pragya (younger) *Shreedhar Dubey as Santosh and Suresh Jaiswal (double role) * Nandish Singh as Kartik *Sudhanva Deshpande as DIG Ramavtaar Keshari *

Satyakam Anand Satyakam Anand (born 11 July 1977) is an Indian actor, known for working in Bollywood. He tried to get admission into National School of Drama for three years, but remained unsuccessful for different reasons. He made his debut with the film, Dva ...

as CM Kedar Bhagat *Abhash Makharia as Suraj *Abhishek Tripathi as SHO Batuk Singh *Sukhvinder Chahal as Mr. Chhabra, Manu's father *Aarya Sharma as Mrs. Chhabra, Manu's mother *Raj Sharma as Saini *Anil Rastogi as Ramakant Thakur *Saharsh Kumar Shukla as Guru *Neelu Dogra as Pushpa Sanjay Singh *Vijay Shukla as Agarwal *Anshuman Rawat as Adhikari *Bulloo Kumar as Kushal *Sachin Mishra as a danga informant *Purva Parag as older pragya *Akhilesh Yadav as

rishi In Indian religions, a ''rishi'' ( ) is an accomplished and enlightened person. They find mention in various Vedic texts. Rishis are believed to have composed hymns of the Vedas. The Post-Vedic tradition of Hinduism regards the rishis as "gre ...

rioter *Rubina as

defense lawyer A criminal defense lawyer is a lawyer (mostly barristers) specializing in the defense of individuals and companies charged with criminal activity. Some criminal defense lawyers are privately retained, while others are employed by the various ...

assistant *Bilaal Ahmed as danga terrace informant

Production

The series marked the debut of Ranjan Chandel as the director, known for working on '' Mukkabaaz'' (2018) as co-writer and also made his directorial debut with ''

Bamfaad ''Bamfaad'' () is a 2020 Indian romantic action film directed by Ranjan Chandel starring Aditya Rawal and Shalini Pandey in their first lead film. The film was released on 10 April 2020. It is a passionate love story set in Allahabad between Na ...

'' (2020). It is based on the novel ''Chaurasi'' by Satya Vyas, which portrays the romantic relationship between two couples in the backdrop of

. Chandel stated that "I spend most of my time reading literature and poetry from all over the world and as a filmmaker, I want to tell stories of the characters who are rooted in Indian soil, and I connect with the stories where I find high emotional value." The pre-production for the series began in February 2020 but was put on hold due to

COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in India On the evening of 24 March 2020, the Government of India ordered a nationwide lockdown for 21days, limiting the movement of the entire 1.38billion (138 crores) population of India as a preventive measure against the COVID-19 pandemic in India. ...

in March 2020, which was resumed after the lockdown. The principal photography of the series started in September 2020 at

Lucknow Lucknow () is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the largest city of the List of state and union territory capitals in India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is the administrative headquarters of the epon ...

, Uttar Pradesh and filming completed on 4 December 2020.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack for ''Grahan'' features four songs composed by

Amit Trivedi Amit Trivedi (born 8 April 1979) is an Indian music composer, record producer, singer, songwriter, musician who works primarily for Indian cinema. After working as a theatre and jingle composer and composing for non-film albums, he debuted as ...

and Daniel B. George, with lyrics written by Varun Grover and

Swanand Kirkire Swanand Kirkire (born 29 April 1972) is an Indian lyricist, playback singer, writer, assistant director, actor and dialogue writer, who works in Marathi and Hindi film and television. Kirkire won the National Film Award for Best Lyrics twice: f ...

Release

Grahan was premiered on

Disney+ Hotstar Disney+ Hotstar, also known as JioHotstar or simply Hotstar, is an Indian subscription video-on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Disney Star. The brand was introduced as Hotstar for a streaming service carrying content from Di ...

globally on June 24, 2021. The first trailer was released on June 10, 2021.

Reception

Archika Khurana writing 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 ...

'' said, "Overall, 'Grahan' is an emotional tale that will leave you with a bag full of mixed emotions — love, hate, anguish, and betrayal. At times, it overwhelms too" and has rated 3.5 stars out of 5. Shweta Keshri writing for ''

India Today ''India Today'' is a weekly Indian English-language news magazine published by Living Media, Living Media India Limited. It is the most widely circulated magazine in India, with a readership of close to 8 million. In 2014, ''India Today'' laun ...

'' expressed, "the series might also interest the millennial kids in trying to find out about a forgotten chapter and one of the dark chapters of Indian history, which is not often talked about." Sana Farzeen writing for ''

The Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932 by P. Varadarajulu Naidu. It is headquartered in Noida, owned by the ''Indian Express Group''. It was later taken over by Ramnath Goenka. In 1999, eight y ...

'' said, "An impactful series that finds resonance in today’s India." Saibal Chatterjee writing 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, ...

expressed, "Grahan, an essential cautionary tale, isn't eclipsed by its own unerringly earnest devices. Recommended for its humanist core."

Accolades

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, tt14820482 2021 web series debuts Indian web series Hindi-language web series Hindi-language Disney+ Hotstar original programming 1984 anti-Sikh riots Fiction about the insurgency in Punjab Indian historical television series Television series based on actual events Fiction about Sikhism Fictional portrayals of the Punjab Police (India) Television shows set in Jharkhand Television series set in 1984 Television shows based on Indian novels Television shows set in Punjab, India Indian romance television series Indian drama television series Television series set in 2016 Indian crime drama television series 2020s police procedural television series Detective television series