This gut-wrenching visual launches Prime Video’s latest eight-episode true-crime sensation, Raakh. Released globally on June 12, 2026, the series has completely shaken audiences. It redefines the meaning of grief and horror on screen. Viewers across the internet are calling it an absolute masterpiece. Yet, many openly admit they can never watch it a second time because the experience is so intensely heavy.
The story takes direct inspiration from a dark chapter in Indian criminal history. It mirrors the infamous 1978 Ranga-Billa kidnapping and murder case of siblings Geeta and Sanjay Chopra. Director Prosit Roy handles the adaptation with unflinching realism. He refuses to shield the audience from raw human cruelty.
What makes this show truly extraordinary is its handling of the main antagonists, Babu and Rajjo. Modern crime thrillers love to give villains a tragic past. They give them childhood abuse or deep emotional trauma to explain their actions. Raakh completely throws that formula out of the window. The primary killer is simply evil to the core. He has zero sob stories to justify his horrific actions. He feels a savage impulse and acts on it. It is that simple, and it is absolutely terrifying.
Series Details
Platform: Amazon Prime Video
Genre: Gritty True-Crime / Procedural Drama / Suspense
Running Time: 8 Episodes (Approx. 45 Minutes each)
Language: Hindi (With multi-language dubbing)
Crew
Director: Prosit Roy
Creators & Writers: Sandeep Saket and Anusha Nandakumar
Executive Producer: Prosit Roy
Star Cast
Ali Fazal as Sub-Inspector Jayprakash Jatav
Sonali Bendre as Mona Arora
Aamir Bashir as Lt. Col. Ashok Arora
Akash Makhija as Babu
Ramandeep Yadav as Rajjo
“Wait, have you read this yet?”
A Desperate Night and a National Nightmare
The story kicks off on a heavy, rain-drenched evening in late-1970s New Delhi. Two young siblings, Suman and Sahil Arora, head out for a radio performance. They accept a car ride from strangers during a massive storm. They never return home.
Their disappearance triggers immediate panic for their parents, played by Sonali Bendre and Aamir Bashir. The father is a disciplined military officer. The mother is a gentle school teacher. They turn to the local police department for urgent help.
Sub-Inspector Jayprakash Jatav takes charge of the file. He faces immense pressure from the city administration. The heavy rain washes away crucial physical clues. The case quickly turns from a missing person search into a nationwide manhunt. The discovery of the children’s bodies in the forest sends massive shockwaves through the entire country.
Pure Evil: No Traumatic Backstory Needed
The absolute best part of Raakh is how it treats its villains. Babu and Rajjo are the two men behind the horrific crime.
“The show completely avoids the classic modern trap of validating a monster.”
Most series waste hours trying to explain why a killer became bad. They show a bad childhood, an abusive father, or extreme poverty. They try to make the audience feel a little bit of sympathy for the devil.
Raakh refuses to do that. Babu is evil to the core, plain and simple. He does not have a tragic past to justify his actions. Babu is a predator who surrenders completely to his most savage impulses. He doesn’t plan his crimes with a brilliant mind. Babu simply enjoys inflicting pain on the helpless.
This creative choice makes the show much more terrifying. It forces the audience to face an uncomfortable truth. Some people are just genuinely bad. They do not need an excuse to harm others. Their direct, cold stares into the camera will make your skin crawl. Watching them operate without any moral boundaries is highly intense and deeply disturbing.
Narrative Tracks: Investigating the Smoke
The series moves deliberately as a slow-burn thriller. It divides its storytelling into two highly distinct visual styles and timelines.
| The Police Investigation Track | The Criminal Timeline Track |
| Uses a standard widescreen aspect ratio with cold, blue, and gray color tones. | Uses a vintage aspect ratio with raw, gritty, and yellowish color palettes. |
| Follows SI Jayprakash as he struggles against institutional corruption and caste politics. | Follows Babu and Rajjo as they run away, leaving a trail of absolute chaos behind. |
| Highlights the suffocating grief of the parents and public anger in Delhi. | Highlights the dark psychology of two men acting on pure, unchecked malice. |
The Cast Performance Graph: Restraint and Raw Power
The acting in this series elevates it far above standard true-crime shows. Every actor delivers a career-defining performance.
Ali Fazal (As SI Jayprakash Jatav): Fazal delivers an absolute masterclass in restraint. He plays a lower-caste police officer fighting a biased system. He uses his body language to show deep physical and mental exhaustion. You can feel his pure frustration as he stays one step behind the killers.
Sonali Bendre (As Mona Arora): Bendre plays the grieving mother beautifully. Her performance is not about loud, dramatic crying. She represents a silent, suffocating ocean of deep denial and heartbreak.
Akash Makhija & Ramandeep Yadav (As Babu and Rajjo): These two young actors are exceptionally chilling. They play their roles with a raw, animalistic energy. Akash & Ramandeep make no attempt to look cool or likeable. They embody pure malice with terrifying ease.
Technical Mastery: The Sound of Dread
Director Prosit Roy builds tension using minor everyday moments rather than loud jump scares. The cinematography by the technical crew captures 1978 Delhi with incredible accuracy. The dark streets, old vehicles, and vintage houses feel completely real.
The background score works overtime to build a heavy atmosphere. The show often drops the music entirely during the most intense scenes. It forces you to sit with the raw sounds of heavy breathing, rain, and sudden violence. This lack of cinematic decoration makes the viewing experience incredibly raw and pure. It leaves you feeling cathartically drained by the time the final credits roll.
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The Real-Life Tragedy Behind the Fiction
The terrifying events of Raakh are directly based on a real-life crime that permanently changed India. It mirrors the 1978 Geeta and Sanjay Chopra kidnapping and murder case, widely known as the Ranga-Billa case.
On August 26, 1978, sixteen-year-old Geeta and her fourteen-year-old brother Sanjay left their Delhi home for a youth program at All India Radio. Because it was raining, they accepted a car lift from two strangers. Those men were Kuljeet Singh (Ranga) and Jasbir Singh (Billa).
When the criminals realized the children’s father was a naval officer and not a wealthy businessman, they chose murder over mercy. They drove the siblings to the dense Upper Ridge Road forest. Sanjay, a trained school boxer, fought back with incredible bravery. The autopsy later revealed he suffered 25 deep stab wounds fighting the blades until his last breath.
The real-life killers showed zero remorse. Ranga and Billa were eventually caught on a train by alert military personnel and were hanged together in Tihar Jail on January 31, 1982. To honor the siblings’ legendary bravery, India established the annual national Geeta and Sanjay Chopra Awards for extraordinary childhood courage.
Overall Review Verdict: Should You Watch It?
Raakh is easily one of the most powerful and emotionally exhausting Indian shows of recent times. It is definitely not an easy watch. The show refuses to give you a clean, happy ending. It lingers in the psychological damage and the messy reality of true crime.
If you want a light, fast-paced action popcorn thriller, you should skip this one. But if you want a deeply meaningful, intense drama that respects history and presents an unfiltered look at pure evil, Raakh is an absolute masterpiece.
What Do You Think?
Do you prefer villains who have a complex, tragic backstory, or do you find monsters like Babu – who are simply evil to the core – more terrifying to watch? Did the intense, slow-burn pacing of Raakh keep you hooked?
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