The Great Indian Murder Season 1 Ending Explained: Decoding the Finale of Richa Chadha, Pratik Gandhi's Disney+ Hotstar Series and How It Will Play Into Season 2 (SPOILER ALERT)

Tigmanshu Dhulia's series The Great Indian Murder, streaming on Disney+ Hotstar, is an adaptation of author Vikas Swarup's best-selling novel, Six Suspects. Produced by Bollywood superstar Ajay Devgn, The Great Indian Murder is a murder mystery series with enough social themes and an roster of talented actors leading it. The show revolves around the murder of Vicky Rai (Jatin Goswami), the vicious son of an ambitious politician Jagannath Rai (Ashutosh Rana) at a party held at Vicky's farmhouse, and the narrowing down of the suspects who could have a hand in the killing. The Great Indian Murder Season 1 Review: Richa Chadha, Pratik Gandhi’s Murder-Mystery Series Is Appealing Despite Its Nihilistic Mood and Inconsistent Structure.

The cops investigating the crime are CBI officer Suraj Yadav (Pratik Gandhi) and police officer Sudha Bharadwaj (Richa Chadha) pencil in on three suspects. Interesting part is if I remember the novel correctly, these two characters have no part to play in the book, where the motives and the suspense are decoded through flashbacks, channel recordings, diary entries and other plot narratives.

Anyway they narrow in on three suspects, Munna (Shashank Arora) - a mobile thief, Eketi (Mani PR) - an Andaman tribal and Mohan Kumar (Raghubir Yadav) - a bureaucrat who suffers from dissociative personality disorder. But is the killer among them? The finale episode, while living upto the nihilism of the series and serving a couple of tragic fates, drops a surprise in the last scene. Surprise, only if you have not read the novel.

What Happens in the End of Season 1?

We are led to believe that Ashok Rajput (Sharib Hashmi), the welfare officer tasked to help poor Eketi in the mainland, killed Vicky Rai as revenge for the death of his brother. Ashok pinned the crime on Eketi, and even replaced his holy idol with a replica, that Eketi realises only late when he breaks into the police evidence room. By this time, Eketi has already been labelled a Naxalite and perpetrator of Vicky Rai's murder by the corrupt Suraj Yadav, who then gets Eketi killed in a fake encounter. It is now easy to put the whole blame on a poor dead man with no relatives to prove otherwise, especially after Suraj convinced Munna to make a false confession as revenge for his sister's death, the result of all these could topple a government.

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However, the finale shows that neither Ashok Rajput nor Mohan Kumar had fired that bullet that killed Vicky Rai. So who is it?

What to Expect in Season 2?

While I am not going to reveal the suspense just because I have read the novel, I can say what season 2 will answer based on what happened in season 1. Here they are:

Justice for Eketi

Eketi might have been killed, rest in peace poor soul, but his valiant efforts to retrieve his beloved Engetai in a merciless world shouldn't go vain. That justice could happen through Ashok, whose guilt has created bedroom problems for him, returning the idol to Eketi's tribe.

Suraj Yadav vs Arun Deshmukh

Arun Deshmukh (Amey Wagh), whose character in the novel goes by the name Advani, has a larger role in the book, but in the first season, the conscientious, secretive vlogger only appears in patches. There is a huge certainty that he would have a larger role to play in season 2. While Suraj may have effectively closed the case falsely with Eketi's death, Arun could pull up some damning evidence that could put the case open again. With Suraj already knowing his identity, there is a possibility of them clashing in the future. And let's not forget...

Sudha Bharadwaj

Sudha, while I remind you is a not a character from the novel, is not exactly the purveyor of justice thanks to one incident of corruption.  But she is still the 'honest' cop we have for now, and could be the protagonist to follow in season 2. There is a chance that she could discover both Suraj and her subordinate Manjot's deception, and moreover, more suspects as she investigates further. We can't also dismiss the coincidence of the accident that lead her husband to be comatose happening at the same time when Sudha, who was investigating Vicky's crimes, needed to be cajoled into proving the charges false. Sudha could be the one who discovers the key to the mystery, a character trope that the novel avoids.

Three More Suspects

The cops had only pencilled on three suspects - Mohan, Munna and Eketi, and through Eketi, we find that Ashok also is a suspect. But the last scene clarifies none of them are the killers. Here's where we remind you that the show already gave us two more suspects - Jagannath Rai who wanted his son out of his way to further his political ambitions, and film actress Shabnam (Paoli Dam) who has a beef with the dead man, and both were at the party.

We can rule out Rai as a suspect as he had expected his right hand man Prithvi (Deepraj Rana) to carry out the murder, not knowing Prithvi had betrayed him to Vicky and was actually shot dead when the party was happening. But his involvement would be a major subplot to explore further, considering the second episode was dedicated to his arc. The whole Naxalite angle in Vicky's murder was brought in so that the current CM, who was coerced to reveal he has Leftist friends in an interview, gets accused of arranging Vicky's murder and has to resign, leaving Jagannath to be the next CM. If there is justice in the series, Jagannath may not be able to carry his ploy much.

Shabnam is mysteriously ignored by both the cops and the series, despite her presence being heavy in the first couple of episodes, and she should have been interrogated considering her publicised spat with Vicky. Come on, wouldn't the media first target Bollywood before anything else? We expect season 2 to explore more about her.

Finally, if you waited till the credits, you would see the name Larry Page mentioned in the Cast list. Played by actor Liam Macdonald, he is the portly, belly-showing gora at Vicky Rai's party. In the novel, he is also one of the six suspects, obsessed with Shabnam. Expect the second season to bring him to the investigation process, considering that even for a moment, the first season did highlight his presence.

While the second season for The Great Indian Murder has not been announced yet, expect the makers to do so soon considering picture abhi baaki hai mere dost!

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 04, 2022 04:35 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).