With Saif Ali Khan and Randeep Hooda donning the cop uniform on OTT this week, we take a look at 10 memorable police portrayals in Hindi OTT series over the years.
Key Points
- Randeep Hooda reprises his role as Inspector Avinash, tackling a powerful weapons cartel in Uttar Pradesh in the second season of the JioHotstar series.
- Saif Ali Khan plays a cop for the second time in the Netflix film, Kartavya.
- Meet 10 standout police characters from Hindi OTT series who redefined the cop archetype with emotional depth and moral complexity.
This week, two Bollywood actors will be seen donning the khaki uniform in the OTT space.
Saif Ali Khan is playing a cop for the second time in Kartavya, a dark social thriller directed by Pulkit, whose previous films include Bhakshak and Maalik.
Produced by Shah Rukh Khan’s Red Chillies Entertainment, the film will stream on Netflix from May 15. The first time Saif played a police officer was also for a Netflix project, the groundbreaking Sacred Games.
Meanwhile, on JioHotstar, Randeep Hooda reprises his role as the titular supercop in the second season of Inspector Avinash. Directed by Neerraj Pathak, the new season sees the fearless officer take on a dangerous weapons cartel operating in Uttar Pradesh. The series also premieres on May 15.
Interestingly, both these cops are self-confessed Mahadev bhakts.
While we wait to see how these latest portrayals fare, Sreeju Sudhakaran picks 10 memorable police characters from popular Hindi OTT series and asks you to choose your favourite khaki-clad icon from the streaming world.
Sartaj Singh, Sacred Games
Where to Watch: Netflix
It feels only right to begin this list with the show that helped glamorise the OTT space for Indian audiences.
While Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s sardonic gangster Ganesh Gaitonde walked away with many of the show’s most dramatic moments and quotable lines, Saif Ali Khan was quietly compelling as the repressed cop trying to unravel the mystery connecting him to a dead gangster and an impending apocalyptic event.
It might not be a showy performance, but Saif effortlessly carries the intensity of the honest but emotionally-battered cop throughout its two seasons.
Vartika Chaturvedi IPS, Delhi Crime
Where to Watch: Netflix
When dealing with crimes as harrowing as sexual assault and human trafficking, you need an officer who understands public grief and outrage while remaining committed to justice.
Shefali Shah’s Vartika Chaturvedi is precisely that kind of hardened officer. Even when the system feels incapable of protecting its citizens, there is a small sense of reassurance in knowing there may still be honest cops like Vartika and her team fighting for justice.
It is also a thoughtful touch that a series dealing with crimes against women places a courageous woman at its centre.
Also watch out for Rasika Dugal and Rajesh Tailang playing her equally dedicated subordinates.
SI Anjali Bhaati, Dahaad
Where to Watch: Prime Video
In one of her finest performances, Sonakshi Sinha shines as the eager, determined cop tasked with hunting down a serial killer whose identity remains elusive. But solving the case is only half her battle.
She must also confront the misogyny and casteism festering within and around her own department.
The result is a emotionally charged performance that anchors the show effectively, despite a terrific Vijay Varma threatening to steal the show as the amoral, perverted serial killer.
Inspector Kabir Sawant, Breathe
Where to Watch: Prime Video
While Breathe and its sequel/spinoff, Breathe: Into The Shadows featured popular actors playing antagonists, R Madhavan in the first and Abhishek Bachchan in the second, the constant thread remained Amit Sadh’s supercop Kabir Sawant.
Sadh is solid as the no-nonsense officer chasing criminals who may well be smarter than him, while still trying to remain emotionally available for his family.
That emotional duality, in fact, is something many of the cops on this list share.
Inspector Hathi Ram Chaudhary, Paatal Lok
Where to Watch: Prime Video
Hathi Ram Chaudhary embodies the frustration of being trapped within a broken system while trying desperately to do the right thing.
He is an honest cop, but that honesty also becomes his Achilles’ heel as he battles red tape, corruption and institutional rot while investigating disturbing crimes.
In Jaideep Ahlawat’s capable hands, Hathi Ram becomes one of the finest characters Indian web series have produced, and we do hope he returns for the third season of the show.
DSP Barun Ghosh, Undekhi
Where to Watch: SonyLIV
The interesting thing about DSP Ghosh is that, initially, you are never entirely sure which side he is on. Is he forced to align with the corrupt and powerful, or is doing his best to save their victims?
It is eventually revealed he is fighting an almost losing battle where all he can do is stand up to his opponents and show his defiance.
The portly Bengali officer is intelligent, sarcastic, and is genuinely trying to do the right thing in a world where justice rarely wins. Dibyendu Bhattacharya plays the character superbly across all four seasons of the show.
SP Abhay Pratap Singh, Abhay
Where to Watch: Z5
Police officers often find themselves confronting the darkest shades of humanity, but in Abhay, the horrors come relentlessly.
Nearly every case handled by SP Abhay Pratap Singh is deeply disturbing, from cannibalistic child killers to murderers deriving orgasmic pleasures while killing their victims.
Though Kunal Kemmu is largely known for lighter roles, he is remarkably effective here in a far more serious and restrained performance.
Kasturi Dogra, Aranyak
Where to Watch: Netflix
In her OTT debut, Raveena Tandon plays the upright Inspector Kasturi Dogra in a small Himachali town, investigating a French tourist’s murder.
With the crime tied to local folklore involving a were-leopard, Kasturi must also juggle mounting troubles at home and clashes with her by-the-book colleague.
The series makes it clear that she may be out of her depth with the complicated and bizarre case, which only makes her journey through the investigation more compelling.
Amarpal Jasjit Garundi, Kohrra
Where to Watch: Netflix
Netflix’s Kohrra delivered two strong seasons filled with weary cops handling complicated murder investigations while battling their own personal demons. But the constant emotional anchor across both seasons remained Barun Sobti’s ASI Garundi.
Like his seniors, Garundi represents both the strengths and failures of the system he serves.
He is dedicated and sincere, yet capable of resorting to brutal third-degree methods during interrogations. His personal life is even messier, from his affair with his sister-in-law in the first season to his marital troubles in the second.
Sobti delivers one of his career-best performances as this deeply flawed man perpetually simmering with frustration.
SDPO Ketan Kamat, Kaala Paani
Where to Watch: Netflix
Netflix’s unfortunately short-lived disaster thriller Kaala Paani stood out because of its morally complex characters navigating a pandemic outbreak on a remote island.
Amey Wagh’s Ketan Kamat is among the most fascinating of them. A crooked and self-serving cop, Kamat initially prioritises his own escape over civilian safety before realising there was a bigger game at play in the origins of the pandemic.
Yet, his desperate survival instincts gradually give way to a reluctant moral awakening. Wagh’s scene-stealing performance makes that transformation particularly engaging to watch.
Photographs curated by Satish Bodas/Rediff
