Black Warrant Review: The custodians of Tihar jail have their hands full! A young fellow with a lanky build, Sunil Kumar Gupta (played by a firecracker Zahan Kapoor) weasels his way into the job which his superiors think he isn’t fit for.
As a prison officer responsible for managing the day-to-day activities of inmates, Gupta, with his non-intimidating demeanour is the exact opposite of an imposing figure that hardened criminals would fear. In comes Siddhant Gupta (Bikini killer, Charles Sobhraj) who helps Sunil land the job.
Black Warrant: Plot
Created by Vikramaditya Motwane and Satyanshu Singh, based on the 2019 book Black Warrant: Confessions of a Tihar Jailer by journalist Sunetra Choudhury and former superintendent of Tihar Jail, Sunil Gupta, Black Warrant exposes the many systemic problems plaguing the jail system in India. Out of 1300 prisoners, 1000 are undertrials. The human capital and resources required to keep a prison running is nearly exhausted as the jailers try their best to balance their sanity amid a crumbling infrastructure.
Episode 2 titled ‘Gallows” follows the death sentence of Ranga (Kuljeet Singh) and Billa (Jasbeer SIngh), the two prime suspects of the kidnapping and murder of Geeta and Sanjay Chopra. A black warrant is issued in their name, the tip of the pen is broken. The verdict is announced but Gupta knows there is more to the case than meets the eye. In a triggering scene, we see the executioners strangulate Ranga when he doesn’t die by hanging.
Black Warrant: Performances
Gupta, visibly disturbed by the scene, belches. In many ways, Gupta’s approach stands in sharp contrast to other members of his department: Paras Tomar, his superior, who dislikes Gupta with a passion for he doesn’t blindly follow orders like others; Dahiya , a Haryanvi, hot-headed jailer, whose scandalous affair with SP’s wife causes a scandal; Mangat, a Sikh jailer whose brother falls in bad company. The show gets into its groove in episode 3, titled ‘Dhaakad’, when Gupta decides to fit in by emulating the hyper-masculine men around him.
A bunch of JNU students stage a heist, they escape the prison using what Charles calls a ‘magician’s trick’. We are introduced to Garvit Duggal, a BCom student from SRCC, who is accused of murder. He develops an unlikely bond with a researcher from IP College of women. A war breaks out between Tyagis and Haddis, two ferocious prison gangs, over a drug assignment gone wrong. Meanwhile, two brothers on a death row want separate barracks as they are ‘fed up’ of looking at each other’s face. Soon, a rebellion sparks the fire of prison reform.
Black Warrant: Writing And Direction
Sidhant Gupta as Charles Sobhraj, despite the obvious attempts of giving him sex appeal, comes across as a teenage edgelord from South Delhi with an accent that looks jarring. Granted, the showrunners want to capitalize on Gupta’s rizz, but the attempt falls rather short when he ends up looking like an alien in an obviously Indian setting. That Charles Sobhraj, the real-life serial killer, helped hippie trail tourists interact with the locals would mean he would know the local language but that doesn’t seem to be the case here.
You might just feel that we have left Tihar jail and entered the set of Jubilee when the camera enters Sobhraj’s posh cell. Perhaps, the extravagance is meant to underscore how the rich get better access to facilities in jail, more so if they blackmail those in power, much like Sobhraj. Besides the many criminal cases which we are familiar with, Black Warrant also documents historical moments in a way that only a Vikramaditya Motwane show can.
Black Warrant: What Works, What Doesn’t
We saw a similar exploration of historical moments in Motwane's Jubilee (2023). In a scene from episode 4 ‘Team Player’, a bunch of police officers listen to live commentary on the 1983 World Cup Final and Kapil Dev’s iconic six. In another scene when Gupta is approving the jail inventory of food items, we see an instant food item we have become too familiar with — Maggi.
An instant favourite and easy-to-cook food option made its way to Tihar jail for the first time. In another scene, we see Mangat telephone home as he finds out that his brother is now a Sikh separatist. We see Tomar say “Indira is India and India is Indira” right before accusing JNU students of being anti-nationals. These historical nuggets only add to the intrigue of the show while simultaneously reminding us of a universal truth — the more things change, the more they stay the same.
More importantly, Black Warrant reimagines masculinity as we know it. The very qualities that differentiate Gupta from the rest of his team sets him apart from others as he earns SP’s approval. My favourite scene from the show is Dahiya speaking to his lover, who asks him if he reads Byron, Tagore and Keats. A confident Dahiya calls them his “padosis” and quotes one of his original shayaris.
Star rating: 3.5 / 5 stars
All episodes of Black Warrant are now streaming on Netflix.
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