General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20264 min read

Kafas

Kafas (क़फ़स) is a 2023 Indian Hindi-language drama thriller web series directed by Sahil Sangha and streamed on SonyLIV, an official adaptation of the 2019 British miniseries Dark Money.¹^•² Its six episodes follow a middle-class Mumbai family whose teenage son lands a role in a Bollywood film, is sexually abused by the film's star, and whose parents are then offered money in exchange for their silence.¹^•³ The title apparently means cage in Arabic, a metaphor the reviews read as the characters' internal struggles.³

Key fact	Detail
Original release	23 June 2023 on SonyLIV; some listings give 22 June¹^•⁴
Format	One season of 6 episodes, roughly 40 minutes each (39 to 41 minutes)¹^•⁵
Source	Official adaptation of Dark Money (2019), produced for BBC One by The Forge; distributed by All3Media International²
Key crew	Director Sahil Sangha; writer Karan Sharma; creator Subhash Kapoor; music by Pranaay¹
Production	Applause Entertainment in association with Madiba Entertainment⁶
Lead cast	Sharman Joshi (Raghav Vashisht), Mona Singh (Seema Vashisht), Mikhail Gandhi (Sunny), Vivan Bhatena (Vikram Bajaj)⁷
Languages	Hindi original, dubbed in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Marathi, and Bengali¹
Audience rating	6.5/10 on IMDb from about 3,200 votes⁸

Spoilers

Premise and plot

The series centers on the Vashisht family of Mumbai: father Raghav (Sharman Joshi), mother Seema (Mona Singh), daughter Shreya (Tejasvi Singh Ahlawat), and son Sunny (Mikhail Gandhi).⁹ Sunny, a schoolboy, wins a once-in-a-lifetime break: a role in Superdad, a big-budget Hindi film starring the reigning actor Vikram Bajaj (Vivan Bhatena).¹⁰ During the outdoor shoot he is molested by his co-star, and he returns home upset and unenthusiastic about the opportunity that had thrilled the family.³^•¹⁰

The price of silence. Sunny confides in his parents and has a cellphone video to back his claim.¹¹ When the family pursues the matter, the star's legal team offers compensation and a non-disclosure agreement that would bar the family from discussing the incident publicly.¹¹ Facing their cash-strapped circumstances, the parents accept the settlement, and the series follows the guilt and family strain that follow, ending with the family deciding to fight back at a heavy price.³^•¹² The episode titles trace this arc, from "Welcome Home Superstar" through "The Offer" to the finale "Next Steps".¹²

Cast and characters

Sharman Joshi plays Raghav Vashisht, the grounded father who resists the family's star-struck excitement, and Mona Singh plays Seema Vashisht, the mother.¹⁰ The two actors had previously appeared together in the 2009 film 3 Idiots.¹³ The supporting cast includes Mikhail Gandhi as Sunny, Tejasvi Singh Ahlawat as Shreya, Vivan Bhatena as Vikram Bajaj, Preeti Jhangiani as Tanya Bajaj, Zarina Wahab as Neelima, Mona Wasu as Meghna, Raghav's ex-wife, and Mukesh Chhabra as Irfan Akhtar.⁷

Production and adaptation

Kafas was produced by Applause Entertainment in association with Madiba Entertainment, with Sameer Nair, Sahil Sangha, and Deepak Segal as producers.⁶^•¹⁴ It is a scripted format adaptation licensed by All3Media International's Singapore-based Asia office of Dark Money, the 2019 BBC One miniseries produced by The Forge.² Director Sahil Sangha said Applause brought him the format and that adapting it required getting the Indian cultural milieu right for a subject that, in his words, is rarely discussed in the context of young boys.¹⁵

The series was released with an unusual promotional strategy: no trailers or teasers, only dramatic posters indicating that the couple had been paid to stay silent.¹⁶ SonyLIV carries the show in seven languages, and it is also available on VI movies and tv and free with ads on Sony Liv.¹⁷^•⁷

Reception

Critical response was mixed. The Times of India gave the season 3 out of 5, crediting Sharman Joshi and Mona Singh's sincere performances while finding the execution at times sluggish.⁹ India Today rated it 2 out of 5, judging that the series became too dramatic to handle the sexual abuse of a child with sensitivity.¹⁶ Rediff's review called it a missed opportunity, praising the makers for taking up a rarely addressed theme while faulting the writing and direction for reducing the abuse to a plot device.³ On IMDb the series holds 6.5/10 from about 3,200 users.⁸

The format found recognition abroad. Kafas, Dark Money India won the best TV adaptation (Scripted) Asia award at the Content Asia Awards and was shortlisted as a finalist in the best scripted format category of the International Format Awards 2024, alongside entries such as NCIS: Sydney and Suits Mongolia.¹⁸

References

Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › International serial drama and telenovelas › South and Southeast Asian serials › South Asian web serials

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

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