Black Warrant (TV series)

Black Warrant is 2025 Indian Hindi-language crime drama thriller television series based on the 2019 non-fiction book Black Warrant: Confessions of a Tihar Jailer by Sunil Gupta and Sunetra Choudhury, about Gupta's time as a jailer at Tihar Prisons. Created by Vikramaditya Motwane and Satyanshu Singh, it stars Zahan Kapoor as Gupta, alongside Rahul Bhat, Paramvir Singh Cheema, and Anurag Thakur.

The series, consisting of seven episodes, was released on Netflix on 10 January 2025.

Premise

Beginning in the early 1980s, Black Warrant is based on historical events told from the perspective of Sunil Gupta, who was a jailer for 35 years at Tihar Prisons. The first season covers Gupta's experiences until 1984, and features real-life criminals, including Charles Sobhraj and Ranga-Billa.

Cast and characters

Main

Zahan Kapoor as Sunil Gupta
Rahul Bhat as DSP Rajesh Tomar
Paramvir Singh Cheema as Shivraj Singh Mangat
Anurag Thakur as Vipin Dahiya

Recurring

Sidhant Gupta as serial killer Charles Sobhraj
Joy Sengupta as SP JP Singh
Tota Roy Choudhury as SP Mukhopadhyay
Rajendra Gupta as accountant Saini Saab
Mir Sarwar as Kashmiri secessionist Maqbool Bhat
Rajshri Deshpande as journalist Pratibha Sen
Saamya Jainn as Priya
Megha Burman as Seema
Kamal Batra as Garvit Duggal
Shivani Dubey as Kavita Soni
Neelu Dogra as Sunil's mother
Priya Chauhan as Shalini Tomar

Episodes

Production

In June 2020, it was announced that Vikramaditya Motwane will be adapting the 2019 non-fiction book Black Warrant: Confessions of a Tihar Jailer by Sunil Gupta and Sunetra Choudhury into a streaming series. Motwane's production company Andolan Films and journalist Josy Joseph's company Confluence Media, and Vipin Agnihotri Films acquired the rights for the adaptation. Subsequently, Applause Entertainment acquired the rights and entered production for two and a half-years, before selling the finished product to Netflix.

Motwane said that Zahan Kapoor was cast in the lead role of Sunil Gupta after a blind audition process while Rahul Bhat was cast after he saw his performance in Kennedy (2023). Apart from Gupta's character, the other jailers shown in the series were fictional or composites of characters from the book.

Release

The series began streaming on Netflix on 10 January 2025.

Reception

Critical response

Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express wrote that the "series goes the full yard in attempting to unpack the intricate power structure and showcasing caste-and-religious hierarchies in rough-tough Tihar Jail". Scroll.in's Nandini Ramnath considered it a "grim show" about the "brutalities of prison life". She appreciated the work of cinematographer Saumyananda Sahi and production designer Mukund Gupta, as well as the performance of Rahul Bhat. Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV opined, "As a piercing look at Tihar, an absorbing story of a baptism by fire and an insightful snapshot of an era in the life of a nation, Black Warrant warrants bingeing on". He was particularly impressed by the portrayal of "a male protagonist who upends notions of belligerence that popular films perpetuate".

Writing for The Hollywood Reporter India, Rahul Desai termed it "skilfully written, performed and crafted" and took note of its abilty to subverse "easy tropes and resolutions". The Hindu's Shilajit Mitra wrote, "Black Warrant is a grim, discomfiting series, and the flashes of levity and camaraderie only serve to reinforce the tone." He was also appreciative of the performances of Bhat, Zahan Kapoor, and Rajendra Gupta. Shajin Shrijith of The Wire considered its quality to be in the same league as the shows Paatal Lok and Kohrra.