General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20266 min read

Raktanchal

Raktanchal (रक्तांचल) is a Hindi-language crime drama web series created for the Indian streaming platform MX Player, first released on 28 May 2020. It is set in the Purvanchal region of eastern Uttar Pradesh in the 1980s, when state development work was distributed through government tenders, and dramatizes the bloody rivalry between the tender-mafia boss Waseem Khan and the vengeful young criminal Vijay Singh.¹^•² The series ran for three seasons: nine episodes in 2020, nine in February 2022, and eight in July 2026, the last season streaming on Amazon MX Player after MX Player was folded into Prime Video.³^•⁴

Key fact	Detail
Premiere	28 May 2020, MX Player (MX Originals); all nine season 1 episodes released the same day²^•⁵
Setting	Purvanchal, eastern Uttar Pradesh, in the 1980s, during the era when development tenders were controlled by criminal-political networks¹
Central rivalry	Waseem Khan (Nikitin Dheer), the tender mafia, against Vijay Singh (Kranti Prakash Jha), driven by vengeance for his father's murder¹^•⁶
Director	Ritam Srivastav, across all three seasons²^•⁴
Seasons	Season 1: 9 episodes (2020); Season 2: 9 episodes (February 2022); Season 3: 8 episodes (July 2026)³
Season 3 release	16 July 2026, Amazon MX Player⁴
IMDb rating	6.8/10 from about 8,300 user ratings⁷

Spoilers

Premise and setting

The story is inspired by real-life events from the 1980s in Purvanchal, at a time when state development work was distributed through tenders and control of those contracts decided who held power in the region.¹ Waseem Khan, played by Nikitin Dheer, monopolizes the tenders of Purvanchal and also runs liquor brewing and coal mining with the backing of the politician Pujari Singh (Ravi Khanvilkar).⁸ His position is challenged by Vijay Singh (Kranti Prakash Jha), an anti-hero who abandons his ambition of becoming a civil servant and turns to crime after Waseem's gang murders his father.⁶ The first episode opens with a rigged public bid that Waseem has already bought, until Vijay wrests a contract away from him and starts a war of attrition.⁸

Supporting characters include Waseem's hot-headed enforcer Sanki Pandey (Vikram Kochhar), Vijay's uncle Bechan Singh (Chittaranjan Tripathy) and cousin Chunnu (Basu Soni), and Seema (Ronjini Chakraborty), a honey-trap operative who becomes one of Vijay's key allies alongside her lover Katta (Krishna Bisht).⁸ Soundarya Sharma plays Roli Singh.⁹

Seasons

Season 1 (2020). The nine-episode first season, all released on 28 May 2020, traces Vijay's rise from grieving student to gang leader and his escalating feud with Waseem, played out through gunfights, bombings, and elections in which each ganglord is backed by a rival politician.⁵^•¹⁰ The season finale is titled "Public Enemy".⁵ MX Player reported that the series crossed 100 million reach on the platform after its release.¹¹

Season 2 (2022). The second season, released in February 2022, expanded the conflict, with an intercity manhunt and Dubai-based don references, and introduced characters such as Ashish Vidyarthi's Ramanand Rai.³^•¹² The Times of India review called it a bolder theme with well-rounded characters, while noting that some roles stayed one-dimensional and that both leads were most effective when playing their characters bad.¹²

Season 3 (2026). The third season premiered on 16 July 2026 on Amazon MX Player, produced by Jar Motion Pictures, MX Player, and Naad Films, with Siddharth Mishra as writer.⁴ Filming began on 14 December 2025 and ran into February, moving the action from the Varanasi and Chunar region to Lucknow, with additional shooting in Malihabad, Barabanki, Varanasi, and Prayagraj.¹³ Director Ritam Srivastav said the story moves from the 1980s and 1990s toward the 21st century, brings politics to the foreground, and drops the love angle between Vijay and Soundarya Sharma's character, keeping the character alive only in mention.¹³ New cast members include Karan Patel as STF chief Himanshu Patnaik, Mahie Gill as Saraswati Devi, and Rajesh Kumar as Virendra Pratap Singh.¹³^•¹⁴

Reception

Critical response to the first season was mixed. The Times of India gave it 3.5 out of 5, praising the convincing physical transformation of Kranti Prakash Jha, the accurate 1980s costumes and real locations, and the writers' habit of introducing new characters and plot twists in almost every episode, while criticizing the songs and the profanity.¹⁰ Scroll.in found the leads well cast but the secondary characters more interesting, and noted that Waseem, unlike Vijay, is given no backstory.⁸ The Indian Express called the series repetitive and uninteresting in its first impression, arguing that director Ritam Srivastav offered little that audiences had not seen in Gangs of Wasseypur, Satya, Sacred Games, Mirzapur, and Paatal Lok.⁶ Koimoi rated it two and a half stars, finding the story familiar but the 1980s nostalgia and violent scenes impactful.¹⁵

On IMDb the series holds a 6.8/10 rating from about 8,300 users; per-episode ratings rose from the 6.6 to 7.6 range in season 1 to the 8.2 to 8.7 range in seasons 2 and 3.⁷ Reviewing season 3, Moneycontrol rated it 3 out of 5, calling it an entertaining, pulpy revenge saga that mistakes excess for impact and rarely explores Purvanchal's culture or dialect beyond the basics, unlike Mirzapur, while singling out Rajesh Kumar and Vikram Kochhar as the season's surprises.¹⁴ The Times of India's season 3 review, also 3 stars, found the central conflict compelling because it is grounded in personal revenge rather than political rivalry alone.¹⁶

Production

Season 1 was produced by Pinaka Studios Pvt Ltd and Mahima Productions, with cinematography by Vijay Mishra and music by Mannan Munjal and Paresh Shah; the listed producers include Gautam Talwar, Shalabh Verma, Mahima Gupta, Pradeep Gupta, and Shashank Raai.² The story was developed by Sanjeev K Rajat, Sarvesh Upadhyay, and Shashak Raai.⁸ For season 3, production moved to Jar Motion Pictures with MX Player and Naad Films, Siddharth Mishra took over writing duties, and Arun Kumar Pandey handled cinematography.⁴ The season 3 shoot contended with winter fog and low temperatures in Lucknow, which the director said added a distinct flavor to the shots.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 2003 to 2020

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

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