Tabbar

Overview

Tabbar is a Hindi-language streaming television series produced in India. It premiered on the OTT platform SonyLIV in October 2021. Created by Ajitpal Singh, the show is set in Jalandhar, Punjab, and follows the unravelling of a middle-class Sikh family after a single act of violence sets off an escalating chain of consequences. The title Tabbar is a Punjabi word meaning "family".

Key facts

Premise

The series centres on Omkar Singh, a retired Sikh police constable in Jalandhar, who attempts to protect his elder son after a sudden, violent encounter in their home. What begins as a desperate attempt to shield the family from legal and criminal consequences spirals into a sequence of cover-ups that increasingly erode the moral and emotional fabric of the household. Each episode is structured around the family's deepening entanglement with a politically influential figure and his brother, whose investigation drives the narrative.

Cast

• Pavan Malhotra as Omkar Singh
• Supriya Pathak as Sargun Kaur
• Ranvir Shorey as Ajit Sodhi
• Gagan Arora as Happy Singh
• Sahil Mehta as Tegi Singh
• Paramvir Singh Cheema as Lucky
• Kanwaljit Singh as Maheep Sodhi

Production

Tabbar was directed by Ajitpal Singh, whose feature film Fire in the Mountains was screened at the Sundance Film Festival in 2021. The screenplay was written by Harman Wadala. The series was produced by Jar Pictures, the production house founded by Ajay G. Rai and Alok Ulfat, known for films such as Masaan and Newton. Sneha Khanwalkar composed the background score and music. The show was filmed largely on location in Punjab, lending an authenticity to its small-town milieu, domestic interiors and Sikh family rituals.

Reception

The series received broadly positive critical reception in the Indian press, with reviewers praising the writing, the performances of Pavan Malhotra and Supriya Pathak, and its restrained, character-driven treatment of crime drama. Critics highlighted the show's grounding in regional detail, its slow-burn pacing, and its moral focus on how ordinary people are drawn into transgression while attempting to protect their kin. It was widely listed among notable Indian web series of 2021.

Themes

• Family loyalty and parental sacrifice
• Guilt, conscience and moral compromise
• Class and power dynamics in small-town Punjab
• Policing, criminal justice and political influence
• The fragility of middle-class respectability

Significance

Tabbar is regarded as one of the works that helped establish SonyLIV's identity in the original-content space alongside titles such as Scam 1992 and Rocket Boys. It also drew attention to Punjab as a setting for Hindi streaming drama beyond song-and-dance representations, and reinforced Pavan Malhotra's standing as a leading character actor in long-form Indian fiction.

Related topics

• SonyLIV
• Pavan Malhotra
• Supriya Pathak
• Ranvir Shorey
• Jar Pictures
• Sneha Khanwalkar
• Indian web series
• Jalandhar