The Great Indian Murder is an Indian Hindi-language streaming crime drama series released on Disney+ Hotstar in 2022. The series is an adaptation of Vikas Swarup's novel Six Suspects and is directed by Tigmanshu Dhulia. It was produced by Ajay Devgn under his banner Ajay Devgn FFilms, in association with Wakaoo Films.
Key Facts
| Title | The Great Indian Murder |
|---|---|
| Genre | Crime drama, mystery thriller |
| Based on | Six Suspects by Vikas Swarup |
| Director | Tigmanshu Dhulia |
| Producer | Ajay Devgn |
| Production companies | Ajay Devgn FFilms, Wakaoo Films |
| Language | Hindi |
| Platform | Disney+ Hotstar |
| Release year | 2022 |
| Format | Web series |
Background
The series is adapted from Six Suspects, a 2008 novel by Indian diplomat and author Vikas Swarup, who is also known for the novel Q & A, which was adapted into the Academy Award-winning film Slumdog Millionaire. The novel uses the framing device of a high-profile murder followed by the investigation of six distinct suspects, each with separate backstories and motives spread across different parts of India.
Tigmanshu Dhulia, the director, is known for films such as Haasil, Paan Singh Tomar, and the Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster trilogy. The Great Indian Murder marked one of his prominent forays into long-form streaming content.
Plot
The narrative centres on the murder of Vicky Rai, the controversial son of a powerful Indian politician, who is shot dead at a party celebrating his acquittal in a criminal case. The investigation throws up six suspects from varied social, regional, and professional backgrounds, and the series explores each of their lives and possible motives in parallel with the investigation. The plot interweaves themes of political corruption, caste, tribal displacement, bureaucratic complicity, celebrity culture, and the unequal reach of the Indian justice system.
Cast
- Pratik Gandhi
- Richa Chadha
- Ashutosh Rana
- Jatin Goswami
- Shashank Arora
- Paoli Dam
- Raghubir Yadav
- Mani PR
Production
The series was developed for Disney+ Hotstar as part of the platform's expanding Hindi-language original content slate following its rebranding from Hotstar Specials. Filming took place across multiple Indian locations to reflect the geographic spread of characters in the source novel, which moves between Delhi, tribal Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu, and other regions.
Release
The series premiered on Disney+ Hotstar in February 2022. It was released as a multi-episode show, with episodes made available on the streaming service in Hindi along with subtitles.
Reception
Critical reception was mixed. Reviewers commented on the ambition of adapting Swarup's sprawling, multi-stranded novel into a serialised format, the performances of the lead cast, and the production design. Some reviews noted that the layered structure and large number of characters made the narrative dense, while others praised the social and political themes drawn from the source material.
Significance
The show is among several Indian streaming series of the early 2020s that adapted contemporary Indian English-language fiction for Hindi audiences, alongside titles such as Sacred Games and Bard of Blood. It is also notable for bringing Vikas Swarup's Six Suspects to the screen for the first time, and for placing actor Pratik Gandhi—who rose to prominence with Scam 1992—in another investigative drama lead role.
Related topics
- Vikas Swarup
- Six Suspects
- Tigmanshu Dhulia
- Ajay Devgn
- Pratik Gandhi
- Richa Chadha
- Disney+ Hotstar
- Indian web series
- Scam 1992
References
- Disney+ Hotstar — official series page for The Great Indian Murder.
- Vikas Swarup, Six Suspects (Doubleday/Transworld, 2008).
- Indian film and entertainment press coverage of the show's announcement, release, and reviews (2021–2022).