Sultan of Delhi Review: Disappointing period drama considering the team associated with this show
Sultan of Delhi Web Series Rating: 2 Stars
Finally watched Sultan of Delhi Web Series on Hotstar. So, let’s analyze the cast, release date, story, positive/negatives and at last my personal view on this web series.
Cast: Tahir Raj Bhasin, Mouni Roy, Anjum Sharma, Vinay Pathak, Anupriya Goenka, Nishant Dahiya, Mehreen Pirzada and Harleen Sethi
Director: Milan Luthria & Suparn Verma
Release Date: 13th October 2023 on Hotstar
Duration: 9 Episodes/ 35 Minutes
Story: Series begins with a meeting of a half a dozen ageing men whose writ runs over the city’s underworld. The convener of the gathering of rogues is Farooq Mastaan (Anil George) who advises the gang lords to work in unison and names Arjun (Tahir Raj Bhasin) as a first among equals, the man who will henceforth call the shots.
Story shifted to 1947 during partition time, when young Arjun (Ricky Patel) forced to leave and rush to India with his father Ashok Bhatia (Bijay Anand) after his entire family killed in massacre. Both reside in a refugee camp at Lajpat Nagat, Delhi. Ashok loses his mind due to the deaths of his loved ones.
The young Arjun slowly finds ways to earn money and face the ruthless elements in the camp. Parallelly, there is a track of Rajender Pratap Singh (Nishant Dahiya), a scion of a rich businessman with daddy issues and an oedipal urge towards his stepmother Shankari Devi (Anupriya Goenka).
15 years later, Arjun become a daring hero who drinks and races a bike to win a bet but is otherwise a teetotaler. He befriends Bangali (Anjumm Shharma), the henchman of arms trader Jagan Seth (Vinay Pathak). They team up to execute jobs for Jagan, which mostly include going from city to city and realizing somebody has tipped off the cops against them.
Rajender also enters the picture as the arms trader’s business partner. He detests Arjun and it leads to friction between the two. The matter gets serious when Rajender not only gets Arjun arrested but even tries to woo the latter’s love interest, Sanjana (Mehreen Pirzada). The constant struggle between Arjun and Rajender to one-up each other and become the coveted Sultan of Delhi forms the crux of the series.
Positives
1. Performances
2. Story
3. Screenplay
4. Cinematography
Negatives
1. Length
2. Unnecessary Sub-plots
3. Climax
4. Direction
5. Music
Durgesh Tiwary’s View: When I watched the trailer of this web-series, planned to watch this series in my free time as trailer looks gripping and loved actor and director previous movies & series.
The show is based on Arnab Ray’s novel “Sultan of Delhi: Ascension” which chronicles the life of a survivor of Arjun Bhatia, a survivor of the 1947 Partition, as he rises to power in Delhi’s underworld.
Sultan of Delhi jumps between timelines and generations to highlight the ups and downs in the protagonist’s life. While the on-screen years help viewers keep track, the show only partially captures the look and feel of the 1960s, and the dialogue occasionally feels out of place within that setting. One of the strengths of the show is its pacing and the way it unfolds the story in layers, keeping viewers thoroughly engaged. Also, it refrains from pigeonholing characters into clear hero or villain roles, allowing for nuanced character development. While it may be enjoyed as a bit of pulp and pop culture, it does justice to the source material, making it a compelling watch for fans of crime dramas set against a historical backdrop. The show does have popular names working in its Favour, but only if the material gives them enough scope to flex themselves. The characters are fleshed out nicely and the dynamics they share with each other make for a dramatic watch. However, there are gaps in the narrative that should have been filled for a better impact. Karan Vyas’ dialogues are heroic and clap worthy.
On the flipside, series is based on a book that drives on blood and grittiness. While this is an adaptation that’s neither gritty nor blood-soaked, there’s an overlay of superficiality that’s hard to ignore in the body language of actors and glimpses of the city. We are rather only shown stock footages of Qutub Minar to say that the story happens in Delhi. A few developments happen, and characters appear all of a sudden. For instance, Rajender’s brother and Daniel enter the narrative without context. The reason behind Jagan Seth’s defeat is never given. Then a few plot points occur very conveniently. Arjun pulls off a daring heist in Kolkata and the cops never take action even after learning of the robbery. Lastly, the death of a character at the very end is a shocker but it might leave viewers puzzled. Unnecessary subplots especially of Mouni Roy does not add anything and length could have been trimmed.
Overall, series is a very mediocre adaptation of the original novel that has selective moments of slay and shine but doesn’t come across as any novel. An extremely ambitious outing that only reminds us to rehash our memory of Milan Luthria’s Once Upon a Time in Mumbai that portrayed Ambition, greed, power play and underworld far better. It rests on fine performances, period setting and some dramatic moments. However, due to issues with the script, the desired impact is not made. My view on this web-series is Not Recommended.
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