General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20265 min read

Shaitan

Shaitan (సైతాన్) is a 2023 Indian Telugu-language crime thriller web series written and directed by Mahi V Raghav, released on Disney+ Hotstar on June 15, 2023. It follows a family of four in rural Telangana who, in the pursuit of survival, resort to violent measures, and it was conceived as a single-season limited series with a complete story arc.¹^•²

Key fact	Detail
Format	Nine-episode Telugu crime thriller, roughly four and a half to five hours total, designed as a limited series with a start and an end¹^•²
Release	Disney+ Hotstar, June 15, 2023, with versions in Telugu, Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam, and Kannada²
Setting	Madanapalle, 1995, at the peak of the Naxal movement, amid police brutality and state politics³^•⁴
Lead cast	Rishi as Baali, Shelly Kishore as Savitri, Deviyani Sharma as Jayaprada, Jaffer Sadiq as Gumthi, Ravi Kale as Nagireddy, Lenaa as Mary Joseph⁵
Crew	Music Sriram Maddury, cinematography Shanmuga Sundaram, editing Shravan Katikaneni; produced by Mahi V Raghav and Chinna Vasudeva Reddy⁶
Reception	IMDb 6.4/10 from about 7,000 votes; 123telugu and NTV Telugu each rated it 2.75/5⁷^•⁶^•⁸

Spoilers

Premise and story

The series is set in 1995, when the Naxal movement was at its peak, and centers on Baali (Rishi), who lives in Madanapalle with his mother Savitri (Shelly Kishore), sister Jaya (Deviyani Sharma), and brother Gumthi (Jaffer Sadiq). Savitri, a single parent, lets herself be sexually exploited by a policeman to bring food to the table; when the policeman turns his attention to Jaya, the family cannot let it go, and the siblings are drawn into a world of crime.³ The framing premise is that Baali, after attempting an attack on the Home Minister, is on the run, and the story asks what happens when he chooses the path of violence.⁹

The show's tagline, "You call it a crime, they call it survival," captures its stated angle: a group of people kill those who threaten their existence while considering themselves victims rather than criminals.⁶^•¹⁰ The makers describe it as a completely fictional story, not inspired by true incidents.²

Episodes

All nine episodes were released on June 15, 2023, with individual runtimes between 21 and 36 minutes: "In the Lap of Death," "Lal Salam," "Kingdom of Shaitans," "Counter - Encounter," "Proof of Death," "The Price of Revenge," "Good + Bad vs Evil," "Liberated by Death," and the finale "The Birth of Shaitan."¹³

Production

Shaitan marked the OTT debut as a director for Mahi V Raghav, previously known for the films Yatra and Anando Brahma and the comedy series Save the Tigers, and he also produced it under his banner Three Autumn Leaves.²^•⁴ Raghav said he is not a fan of the thriller genre or of action and violence, and conceived the show as a single-season story partly for that reason, describing the project as "facing your own devil."¹ As research, he spoke with people across walks of life, including cops, outlaws, and lawyers, to understand how criminals view the world and themselves.²^•¹¹

Casting. The pivotal characters are played by non-Telugu-speaking actors, including the Kannada actor Rishi in his web series debut, Deviyani Sharma, Jaffer Sadiq, and Shelly Nabu Kumar, all selected through a series of auditions held across the country. Raghav said the choice was not intentional but driven by the needs of the script and the budget: actors had to fit the part and suit the production's cost constraints.²^•¹¹^•¹² The cast also includes Manikandan K, Lenaa, Aneesha Dama, Nithin Prasanna, Manish Rishi, Ravi Kale, and Kamakshi Bhaskarla.² The show was shot in Madanapalle and Shivamogga, mostly at exterior locations.²^•¹

Controversy and reception

The trailer, released on June 5, 2023, drew a mixed reaction: some viewers called it gripping, while others criticized it as too vulgar and violent, and some noted that an early poster resembled the Kannada film Dandupalya. Raghav responded that reactions to such content are subjective.¹⁴^•² The series opens with trigger warnings advising viewers to watch it in isolation with headphones, given its profane language, violence, and sexual content, and it is rated for adults only.⁴^•⁶

Critical reception was mixed. Reviewers praised the gritty realistic backdrop, the performances of Rishi and Ravi Kale, the background score, and the final episodes, while criticizing the predictability of the plot, the repetitive scenes, and the limited exploration of what Naxalism entails; 123telugu and NTV Telugu both rated the show 2.75 out of 5.⁶^•⁸ A Telangana Today review was harsher, arguing the series derived shock value from violence and gore.³ On IMDb the series holds a 6.4/10 rating from about 7,000 users, with episode-level ratings ranging from 5.9 to 7.8.⁷

Status

Rishi said before release that Shaitan is a single-season show, or limited series, whose story has a start and an end, contained to a four-and-a-half-hour narrative.¹ The series remains available on JioHotstar and VI movies and tv in India.⁹

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 › Telugu 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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