General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20264 min read

Rafuchakkar

Rafuchakkar (रफ़ूचक्कर) is a 2023 Indian Hindi-language thriller-drama web series about Pawan Kumar Bawaria, known as Prince, a con artist from Nainital who is arrested and accused of defrauding powerful people across the country in scams ranging from diet biscuits to low-cost airlines.¹ It premiered on JioCinema on 15 June 2023 and consists of nine episodes.²

Key fact	Detail
Original release	15 June 2023, JioCinema; one season of nine episodes²
Premise	A con artist accused of bizarre scams, from diet biscuits to low-cost airlines, must fight in court to prove whether he is a swindler or an honest man trapped in a web of deceit¹
Lead cast	Maniesh Paul as Pawan Kumar Bawaria aka Prince, in his OTT debut; Priya Bapat, Aksha Pardasany, Sushant Singh, and Aakash Dahiya in principal roles²^•³
Director and creators	Directed by Ritam Srivastav; created by Arjun Singgh Baran and Kartik Nishandar; produced by Jio Studios²
Writing time	The creators spent about a year and a half writing the series, because a con drama cannot leave loose ends³
Audience rating	6.7/10 on IMDb from about 4,400 votes⁴
Streaming history	Premiered on JioCinema; later carried on JioHotstar until May 2025, after which it was unavailable to stream in India⁵

Spoilers

Plot and structure

The story follows Prince, a man of many disguises who is caught by Crime Branch officer Shaurya Chautala (Aksha Pardasany) for impersonating and cheating the prominent citizen Sarvesh Pathania (Sushant Singh).⁶ In court he faces the city's toughest lawyer, Ritu Bhandari (Priya Bapat), while his friend Jaidev (Aakash Dahiya) defends him, and the courtroom battle tests whether Prince is a true swindler or an innocent man caught in a web of deceit.²^•⁷

The narrative alternates between the courtroom in the present and the investigation in the past, with flashbacks showing Prince's exploits before his arrest, and new witnesses arriving to complicate the case.⁶^•⁷ The series also depicts investigative technology such as deep fakes, face mapping, and digital footprints being used to detect fraud.⁸

Production

Casting and performance. Maniesh Paul, previously known for his comic timing as a host and actor, was cast against type as a serious conman in his first OTT role.³ His character appears in several avatars, including a 70-year-old villager, a gym trainer, and a Sardar. Paul found the prosthetics claustrophobic and took six days to get used to them; he gained 15 to 20 kilos to play the villager, then lost the weight and built a ripped physique for the gym trainer part.³

Writing and filming. Creators Arjun Singgh Baran and Kartik Nishandar, who had previously made Naxalbari (2020) and Raktanchal (2020), considered the nine-part series among the toughest projects they had worked on, and spent about a year and a half writing it.³ Director Ritam Srivastav, a former assistant to filmmaker Prakash Jha on films including Gangajal, Satyagraha, Aarakshan, and Rajneeti, had earlier directed the crime series Raktanchal and the film Taanashah.⁹ The series was shot in Nainital and some areas of Delhi.⁸

Release and reception

The teaser was released on 29 May 2023 and the official trailer on 7 June 2023 on JioStudios' YouTube channel, ahead of the 15 June premiere.⁸^•¹⁰ Episodes were released daily on JioCinema, with runtimes of roughly 25 to 39 minutes.²^•¹

Reception was mixed to positive. The Times of India gave the season 3.0 out of 5, writing that the premise was hardly novel but that the layered narrative and Maniesh Paul's sincere, charming performance as Pawan made it an intriguing blend of suspense and courtroom drama.⁶ On IMDb the series holds a 6.7/10 rating from about 4,400 votes, with episode-level ratings between 7.3 and 8.3.⁴ In a December 2023 interview, Srivastav said the show's success had shown he could tell a conman story within the thriller genre, and that Rafuchakkar could go into a next season; no second season has been released.¹¹

Availability

The series premiered on JioCinema and later appeared on JioHotstar, where it was last available until May 2025; as of the most recent listings it is unavailable to stream in India.⁵ It has also been listed on platforms including Starz Play and Airtel Xstream Play via JioHotstar.¹²^•¹³

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 2021 to 2025

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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