Hostages is an Indian Hindi-language thriller web television series that streams on Disney+ Hotstar. It is the official Indian adaptation of the Israeli series Bnei Aruba (created by Omri Givon and Rotem Shamir), which had earlier been adapted in the United States by CBS. The Indian version was directed by Sudhir Mishra and premiered in 2019, with subsequent seasons exploring new storylines centred on the same core protagonist.
| Title | Hostages |
|---|---|
| Original language | Hindi |
| Genre | Crime thriller, drama |
| Based on | Bnei Aruba (Israel) |
| Director | Sudhir Mishra |
| Original network | Hotstar Specials (Disney+ Hotstar) |
| Country of origin | India |
| First season premiere | 2019 |
| Lead cast | Ronit Roy, Tisca Chopra, Parvin Dabas, Dalip Tahil |
The Israeli original Bnei Aruba aired in 2013 and follows a surgeon whose family is taken hostage by a group demanding that she assassinate the country's head of government during a routine operation. The format was first adapted internationally by CBS in the United States in 2013, with Jerry Bruckheimer as a producer. Disney+ Hotstar acquired the rights for an Indian adaptation as part of its early slate of "Hotstar Specials" originals, which were positioned as long-form, cinema-style productions intended to compete with Netflix and Amazon Prime Video in the Indian streaming market.
The Indian adaptation centres on Dr. Mira Anand, a respected surgeon scheduled to perform an operation on the Chief Minister of a north Indian state. On the eve of the surgery, her family is held hostage at their home by a team led by Prithvi Singh, a senior police officer with hidden motives. The captors demand that Mira kill the Chief Minister on the operating table. The narrative interweaves the domestic siege with a wider political conspiracy, exploring themes of moral compromise, institutional corruption and personal loyalty.
The series was produced by Applause Entertainment, the content studio of the Aditya Birla Group, in association with Banijay Asia. Sudhir Mishra, known for films such as Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi and Chameli, directed the first season; he is credited with shaping the political subtext of the adaptation. The show was shot largely in and around north India, with locations standing in for an unnamed state capital.
The first season comprises ten episodes and follows the original Israeli template closely, while relocating the political stakes to an Indian state government context. It was released on Hotstar in 2019 and was among the platform's flagship Indian originals of that year.
A second season was released in 2020, continuing the arc of Prithvi Singh, played by Ronit Roy. The storyline shifts to a fresh hostage situation involving a high-profile prisoner, and introduces new characters while moving away from the structure of the Israeli source material. The season expanded the show's political and intelligence-agency subplots.
Hostages received broadly positive reviews from Indian critics on release, with particular praise for Ronit Roy's performance as the morally ambiguous antagonist and for Sudhir Mishra's direction. Reviewers noted the show's tight pacing in the early episodes and its grounded production design, while some commentary pointed to similarities with the Israeli and American versions as a constraint on originality. The series is frequently cited as one of the early successful long-form thrillers in Hindi streaming television.
The series is significant as part of the first wave of premium Hindi-language web originals commissioned by Disney+ Hotstar under its Hotstar Specials banner, alongside titles such as Criminal Justice and The Office (Indian version). It demonstrated the viability of internationally licensed thriller formats in the Indian streaming market and helped establish Applause Entertainment as a major supplier of long-form drama to Indian OTT platforms.