Raktanchal is a Hindi-language

crime drama Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combin ...

web series directed by Ritam Srivastav for MX Player original. The story of the web-series is inspired by real-life events from the 1980s of two notable mafias

Purvanchal Purvanchal () is a subregion of the Bhojpuri region of India which comprises eastern Uttar Pradesh. Purvanchal region gained independence from the Avadh and Mughal rule under Zamindar Balwant Singh, a Bhumihar zamindar from Benaras State. I ...

, a region in east

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...

. The series stars

Kranti Prakash Jha Kranti Prakash Jha (born 2 November 1988) is an Indian Bollywood actor, film producer, television personality, businessman and model from Begusarai, Bihar, best known for his roles of Santosh Lal in the 2016 Indian biographical sports film '' ...

and

Nikitin Dheer Nikitin Dheer is an Indian actor who works in Hindi and Telugu language films, and television shows. He was a contestant on '' Fear Factor: Khatron Ke Khiladi 5''. Acting career Dheer made his acting debut in 2008 with Ashutosh Gowariker's his ...

along with

Chittaranjan Tripathy Chittaranjan Tripathy (born in 1971) is an actor, director, and music director who predominantly works in Hindi and Odia films. He also acted & directed several Bollywood and Ollywood movies, But he is best known for his role as 'Trivedi' in ...

, Vikram Kochhar, Pramod Pathak, Soundarya Sharma,

Ronjini Chakraborty Ronjini Chakraborty (born 24 February 1992) is an Indian actress and model. She has established her career in Hindi and Bengali films. Personal life Ronjini was born in a middle-class Bengali family on 8 December 1992 in Kolkata. She has been tr ...

and

Daya Shankar Pandey Daya Shankar Pandey (born 19 November 1965) is an Indian film and television actor. He has acted in a number of Hindi movies like ''Lagaan'' (2001), ''Gangaajal'' (2003), ''Swades'' (2004) and ''Raajneeti'' (2010). He began his career with the ...

. It is written by Sarvesh Upadhyay and produced by chitra vakil sharma , chandni soni , Pradeep Gupta, Shashank Raai, Mahima Gupta under the banner of Pinaka Studios Pvt Ltd and Mahima Productions. The series was premiered on May 28, 2020 on OTT platform MX Player.

has said that there will be a second season. Second season of the series was premiered on February 11, 2022 on OTT platform

MX Player MX Player is an Indian video streaming and video on demand platform developed by MX Media & Entertainment (formerly J2 Interactive). It has over 280 million users globally. The platform currently operates on an ad-supported model and has a stre ...

br>
Second Season is produced by Arjun Singhh Baran & Kartk D Nishandar under the banner of Gseam

Plot

''Raktanchal'' is set in the 1980s of

and is inspired by the true events. It is the story of Waseem Khan (played by

) who rules the tender mafia in

, who is also involved in the smuggling of arms and ammunition. The story revolves around Vijay Singh (played by

) and Waseem Khan, who are constantly at loggerheads and leading to a series of bloodbaths. Khan is challenged by the antihero Vijay Singh, who held high morals and wanted to become a civil servant until Khan's gang murdered his father Virendra Singh (played by Gyan Prakash). While Vijay is determined to take revenge of his father's murder, who was killed by Waseem's company, while Waseem is determined to hold on to his power come what may.

Cast

as Waseem Khan *

as Vijay Singh * Soundarya Sharma as Roli *

as Seema *

as Bechan *

Ashish Vidyarthi Ashish Vidyarthi (born 19 June 1962) is an Indian actor who predominantly works in Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, English, Odia, Marathi and Bengali films. He is noted for his antagonist and character roles. In 1995, he received t ...

as Ramanand Rai * Pramod Pathak as Tripurari * Vikram Kochhar as Sanki Pandey * Krishna Bisht as Katta * Basu Soni as Chhunnu * Rajesh Dubey as Sadhu Maharaj * Kenisha Awasthi as Bindu * Shashi Chaturvedi as Bilal * Pravina Bhagwat Deshpande as Sudha (Vijay's mother) * Ravi Khanvilkar as Pujari Singh * Prachi Prakash Kurne as Badki * Farah Malik as Fazila *

as Sahib Singh * Bhupesh Singh as Irshad * Sushil Kr. Srivastav as Hifazat * Gyan Prakash as Virendra Singh (Vijay's father) *

Gurpreet Bedi Gurpreet Bedi is an Indian actress. She was in the top 10 finalists in Pantaloons Femina Miss India and was crowned the Himalayan Femina Miss Natural Beauty. She is best known for her character 'Reeva' in Sony Television's Dil Hi Toh Hai. Early ...

as Fazila Khan

Marketing and release

The web series's official trailer was launched on May 24, 2020 by MX Player on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

Reception

The series received positive reviews from critics, who praised its performances. Ronak Kotecha, editor-in-chief of ''

The Times of India ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest ...

'' gave three-and-a-half of five stating , "With powerful performances and bloody face-offs, ''Raktanchal'' has enough ammo to keep you engaged through all nine episodes." Ruchi Kaushal of ''

Hindustan Times ''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media, an entity controlled by the KK Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia. It was founded by Sunder Singh Lyall ...

'' said, "In this world where an eye for an eye has been making the whole world blind, stirring performances are the key.

plays his part well as a lanky gang leader and carries ''Raktanchal'' on his shoulder. His character reminded me of

Jimmy Sheirgill Jimmy Sheirgill (born Jasjit Singh Gill; 3 December 1970), also credited as Jimmy Shergill, is an Indian actor and film producer who works in Hindi and Punjabi films. Sheirgill began his film career with the 1996 thriller ''Maachis''. His bre ...

's '' Rangbaaz Phirse'' for its

IAS IAS may refer to: Science * Institute for Advanced Study, in Princeton, New Jersey, United States * Image Analysis & Stereology, the official journal of the International Society for Stereology & Image Analysis. * Iowa Archeological Society, Uni ...

-aspirant- turned gangster story. While Jimmy's charm worked wonders in that show, Kranti also does justice to his role. Besides him, Vikram Kocchhar is one actor who brings a smile with his twisted portrayal of coal mafia."

Scroll.in ''Scroll.in'', simply referred to as ''Scroll'', is an Indian digital news publication owned by the Scroll Media Incorporation. It publishes content in both Hindi and English languages. Founded in 2014, the website and its journalists have won ...

's chief editor Nandini Ramanath reviewed "The leads are well cast, with each playing to their strengths.". Prathyush Parasuraman writing for ''

Film Companion Anupama Chopra () is an Indian author, journalist, film critic and director of the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival. She is also the founder and editor of the digital platform Film Companion, which offers a curated look at cinema. She has written sev ...

'' gave a mixed review and said "there is a lot of violence. And to be honest, I am quite tired of it." In August 2020, ''Raktanchal'' crossed 100 million views on MX Player. In October 2020, ''Raktanchal'' was included in the list of ''Best series on MX Player'', released by ''

Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932. It is published in Mumbai by the Indian Express Group. In 1999, eight years after the group's founder Ramnath Goenka's death in 1991, the group was split betw ...

''.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 12347286 2020 Indian television series debuts MX Player original programming Hindi-language web series Indian web series Indian action television series Television shows set in Uttar Pradesh Indian crime television series Television series about organized crime Works about organised crime in India