Finally, the first Indian show to be streamed on Netflix is here, and it has been a great binge-watching experience. Based on the bestselling book by Vikram Chandra of the same name, Sacred Games is a riveting thriller set in Mumbai with elements of underworld, drama, violence, sex and mystery strewn in. The series star Saif Ali Khan, Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Radhika Apte in the lead and is directed by Vikramaditya Motwane and Anurag Kashyap.

Saif plays a disillusioned cop whose life takes an abrupt turn when he gets a mysterious call that warns him of the city being destroyed in 25 days. Nawaz plays a gangster who sees himself as God and wants to bring the city under his rule. Radhika Apte is a RAW officer who wants the bust a fake counterfeit currency racket and believes Gaitonde has some links to it. Sacred Games handles multiple narratives and an ensemble cast and yet at no point, do you feel confused or bored. For that, you have to thanks to tight writing and the strong direction, backed by great performances.

Moreover, Sacred Games features enough twists and turns that will shock the hell out of you. And, yeah, there is nudity in plenty too. In this feature, we will look at the ten most shocking moments in the first season. Needless to say, HUGE SPOILERS AHEAD!

The murderous beginnings

You know that it is not going to be an easy watch when the first scene shows a dog being flung to its death from a high-rise building. And it doesn't end there! We then see Gaitonde (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) shoot Surveen Chawla's character point-blank immediately, followed by Luke Kenny's poker-faced, cold-hearted assassin go on a mass murder spree. That's just the beginning!

Gaitonde commits suicide in the first episode

Before we watched the series, we know that Nawazuddin, Saif Ali Khan and Radhika Apte are the main players. So imagine our shock when Nawaz's character commits suicide at the end of the first episode! Thankfully, he still remains a strong presence in the show, continuing to narrate his life story even after his death.

Nayanika's accidental death

Sartaj (Saif Ali Khan) tries to save TV actress Nayanika (Geetanjali Thapa) from the clutches of the handicapped gangster Bunty (Jatin Sarna). He reluctantly takes the help of his colleagues, who arranges for a sniper to take down Bunty. However, in trying to save Sartaj from getting killed, Nayanika assaults Bunty and in the process, falls in the line of fire and gets killed. Thapa is a fine actress, so it was surprising to see her make an exit so early.

Kukoo goes The Crying Game way

The seductive, elusive bar singer Kukoo (Kubra Sait, in a break out performance) becomes the first serious girlfriend of Gaitonde, who wins her over from his rival, Isa. There are a couple of scenes where they indulge in anal sex, and after one such session, Gaitonde asks her why she never allows him to have her from the front. It is only later that we realise why - In a scene reminiscent from Masti, Kukoo is seen peeing in a men's urinal much to the shock of Gaitonde's henchman revealing that she is a transgender. In case things weren't clear enough, we later see her have a meltdown in front of Gaitonde, who on realising the truth, asks her to show what's beneath. Tearfully, she obliges and we get the boldest scene ever in an Indian web-series, as Kukoo displays her breasts and a penis! Beat that, GoT!

Two nude love-making scenes

If the scene mentioned earlier is not shocking enough, there are many lovemaking scenes spread throughout the series. However, two of them will leave you in a daze thanks to the ample display of gratuitous nudity. The first scene involves Bunty having sex with a prostitute, as the actor Jatin Sarna is shown nude from the behind. Then in another scene, Gaitonde and his wife Subhadra (Rajshri Deshpande, another standout player) engage in rigorous love-making, where the actress is shown topless. It looks like Motwane and Kashyap wanted to take the full advantage of the lack of censorship on a streaming service like Netflix.

Karan Wahi plays Salman Khan?

In Sacred Games, Hate Story 4 star and television host Karan Wahi plays an arrogant SOB actor called Karan Malhotra. A junkie and a blackmailer with violent tendencies, he threatens an actress Zoya (Elnaaz Norouzi) to be a part of his home production, or he will spill her darkest secret. Zoya turns towards DCP Parulkar (Neeraj Kabi) for help and while talking to him, reveals some of Karan's violent tendencies. Which includes, mowing down two people sleeping on the footpath with his car. Now, where did we hear that before?

Anjali gets killed

Radhika Apte was one of the three main players that Sacred Games wants you to believe she is. It is another matter that she often gets sidelined when the proceedings focus more on Saif and Nawaz. It is towards the final episodes of the first season that her character makes a stronger presence and then...she is bumped off by Luke Kenny's assassin. What a turn of events!

Sartaj's thumb gets chopped off

Luke Kenny's character doesn't get enough of the bloodshed after killing Anjali. A couple of scenes later, he tortures a captive Sartaj (who sucks at going stealth BTW) by chopping off the thumb of his left hand in all its gory glory! Yeh ungly mujhe de de, sardar is all that it was left for him to say! Thankfully, Sartaj manages to escape from his clutches, but not before delivering an axe-wound on his back.

Gaitonde's shocking confession

When Gaitonde begins his flashback at the start of the series, he talks about his childhood in a hamlet and reveals how his Brahmin father was arrested for killing his cheating wife and her lover. Towards the end of the season, we find through Gaitonde's hapless confession to 'Guruji' (Pankaj Tripathy) that it was he who brutally killed his mother, while his father took the fall.

The final revelation

In the final scenes of the first season, Sartaj finds out that the missing Trivedi is dead in a secret chamber and at the end of the 25th day threat period, poisonous gas will be leaked into the city, killing all the inhabitants.

Seeing how the series ended, can't blame us for feeling super-excited for the second season.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 07, 2018 02:06 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).