General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20265 min read

Bose: Dead/Alive

Bose: Dead/Alive is an Indian historical drama web miniseries that dramatizes the life of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and the controversy over his alleged death in a 1945 plane crash. It premiered on the ALTBalaji streaming platform on November 20, 2017, as a nine-episode series starring Rajkummar Rao in the title role.¹ The series is based on the book India's Biggest Cover-Up by Anuj Dhar, an Indian author and former journalist who has written about the mystery surrounding Bose's disappearance.²^•³

Key fact	Detail
Premiere	November 20, 2017, on ALTBalaji; all nine episodes released at once¹^•⁴
Format	Nine episodes of roughly 20 to 30 minutes each²
Source material	India's Biggest Cover-Up (2012) by Anuj Dhar²
Lead cast	Rajkummar Rao as Subhas Chandra Bose, with Naveen Kasturia, Edward Sonnenblick, Anna Ador, and Patralekhaa⁵
Key crew	Directed by Pulkit; written by Reshu Nath; created by Ekta Kapoor; creative producer Hansal Mehta⁵^•⁶
IMDb rating	8.6/10 from about 7,400 votes⁷
Filming	Calcutta, Mumbai, Ladakh, Thailand, Poland, Austria, and Germany⁸

Spoilers

Premise and structure

The series opens with the plane crash of August 18, 1945, in Formosa (Taiwan), on which Bose was presumed dead, and builds its drama around the speculation that followed: his family received a telegram asking that his last rites not be conducted, and the questions of whether he actually died became what the show's marketing calls India's biggest cover-up.⁹^•¹⁰

The story runs on two timelines. One chronicles Bose's journey from a rebellious student to a popular leader, including his conflicts with other leaders and his escapes from British surveillance; the other explores the paranoia and investigations that followed his supposed death.¹¹ Episode titles trace that arc, from "Dead Or Alive?" through "Catch Me If You Can," "The Japanese Connection," "Escape To Afghanistan," and the finale "The End Game," in which Bose uses Azad Hind Radio from Berlin to reach Indians.¹² Creative producer Hansal Mehta, an Indian film director known for Shahid and Aligarh, described the approach as treating the material like a political thriller, delving into the various theories around Bose's death and looking back on his life through them.⁶

Production

Ekta Kapoor's team developed the script over roughly a year and a half of research, including a close reading of Dhar's book, before Rajkummar Rao was cast; Mehta joined as creative producer in early 2017 and Pulkit directed.¹^•¹³ The series was produced by Indranil Chakraborty for BIG Synergy Media.² Shooting took place across Calcutta, Mumbai, Ladakh, Thailand, Poland, Austria, and Germany.⁸

Rao's preparation was extensive. According to Mehta, the actor gained weight, shaved off his hair rather than wear a bald wig he found unconvincing, did his own research, studied Bose's radio speeches to get the voice right, and learned elements of Bengali.¹³^•¹⁴ Rao later called it one of his most ambitious projects and said he was proud of the series, though he felt it did not reach its potential because it arrived in 2017, before Indian streaming platforms grew large.¹⁵

The dialogue mixes Hindi and English, since the British characters speak English, with a Hindi language option provided for viewers who do not follow English.¹⁴

Reception

The series drew strong audience ratings. At launch, Balaji Telefilms reported a 9.4/10 IMDb rating, describing it as one of the highest ever for an Indian web series; the rating later settled at 8.6/10 from about 7,400 votes, with an unweighted mean of 9.0.¹⁶^•⁷ It won Popular Original in Hindi at the PatchWall BINGE Awards 2018.¹⁷

Critical response centered on Rao's performance. An Indian Express review called his work stellar and engaging but found the supporting cast and character writing weaker, noting that the British officers played as caricatures while the show hinted smartly at the political rivalry between Bose and Nehru.¹¹ The release also reignited public debate about the circumstances of Bose's death.¹⁸

Aftermath

In April 2018, Mehta said a second season was being scripted in response to audience demand. According to reporting at the time, the planned season was to trace the theory that Bose did not die in the 1945 crash but died in captivity in Russia, having been there until 1968.¹⁹

The series remains available in India, currently streaming free with advertisements on MX Player and Amazon MX Player.¹⁰ Within ALTBalaji's catalog it is listed among the platform's top-rated IMDb shows.²⁰

References

Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Unscripted, reality, and web-native series › Web-native and streaming-original series › Indian and South Asian web series › Premiered 2003 to 2020

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026

Notice something wrong?