The Hunt—The Rajiv Gandhi Assassination Case Review: A poised Amit Sial leads a riveting investigation

The Hunt—The Rajiv Gandhi Assassination Case Review: How does one tell stories of the past? Hindi cinema’s gradual realignment with the hegemonic shift in the previous decade offers a fitting answer. It has become important to create enemies of the past in order to build narratives for the present, like in The Kashmir Files (2022). Sentiments of community pride necessarily need to be heightened to stride away from complexity and go for a grand emotional glorification of history as in Vicky Kaushal’s Chhaava (2025). Then there are the ‘untold stories’ which malign the life of an influential figure in order to elevate another’s as in Randeep Hooda’s Swatantrya Veer Savarkar (2024), or those like Akshay Kumar’s hyper-nationalistic Kesari Chapter 2 (2025) where a recreated past is presented as history and creative liberty smirks at the ‘truth’.

Interestingly, Amit Sial appears in both these films, playing minor, supporting roles. As he leads Nagesh Kukunoor’s historical-series with a long, peculiar title, The Hunt—The Rajiv Gandhi Assassination Case (based on the book Ninety Days by investigative journalist Anirudhya Mitra), Amit becomes part of a world that resists all the aforementioned tendencies developing within the genre. Here, historical accuracy becomes paramount; creative liberty stays negligible.  

That is partly because of its format as a series; there isn’t the same pressure of mass appeal. Sony LIV has been backing stories about history for a while and this comes after Nikkhil Advani’s ambitious, Freedom at Midnight (2024) and Ram Madhvani’s meandering, The Waking of a Nation. This time, however, the history it explores is more recent. In comparison, the storytelling here is methodical, almost echoing the tone of early Doordarshan shows where a certain straightforwardness prevailed over emotional engagement. It serves the show well for it is set in 1991, right after the assassination of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi. A slight tint of yellow and grey lingers in the visuals; the camera covers the action routinely, without imposing any additional gravitas. Nagesh keeps it simple and pointed. Even the actual sequence of Gandhi’s assassination is filmed in a matter-of-fact way without a sign of sensationalism.

Directed by: Nagesh Kukunoor

Starring: Amit Sial, Sahil Vaid, Bhagavathi Perumal, Danish Iqbal, Girish Sharma, Vidyut Garg, Shafeeq Mustafa, Anjana Balaji, B Sai Dinesh, Shruthy Jayan, Gouri Menon, and others.

Produced by: Applause Entertainment and Kukunoor Movies

Streamer: Sony LIV

Rating: 3.5 stars  

Amit plays D.R. Kaarthikeyan, the head of the Special Investigation Team (SIT), tasked with finding the conspirators behind the assassination. In a show like this, one might expect voiceovers setting the background or on-screen texts to convey information. Instead, writers Nagesh, Rohit Banawalikar, and Sriram Rajan provide the context through brief conversations that Kaarthikeyan has with his newly assembled team. In a short introductory scene, the officers arrive at a makeshift office set up in an old building. We learn little about them beyond their ranks and a few characteristic traits. There is no time for pleasantries. This is a docu-drama.

Soon, it is revealed that the key conspirator in the killing is a one-eyed LTTE mastermind, Sivarasan. His trail leads to the rounding up of multiple suspects. There are interrogations, some of which turn violent, leading to a chilling reflection on morality in one particularly terrifying scene. A pregnant suspect is threatened with rape as her lover’s cries echo from another room. “It’s called psychological warfare,” an officer explains, hinting at instances of rape committed at the hands of the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) during the civil war in Sri Lanka from 1987 to 1990. Nagesh keeps space for such complexities to crawl up in the show, which easily could have succumbed into hero-worshipping the investigators.

They are humanised, along with the LTTE operators, who have taken up arms to fight for a separate Tamil state. Another sequence shows the rebels having dinner just the evening before the planned assassination. They are laughing and sharing a moment of camaraderie. Later, the chosen suicide bomber—referred to as a Black Tigress—is seen gazing at the moon. “You can see me in the sky from tomorrow,” she tells another comrade with a glow in her eyes.

Nagesh is careful not to over-empathise with their cause. The primary focus stays firmly on the investigation while giving us such smaller moments of reflection. By doing so, Nagesh remains just a messenger, presenting multiple sides without ever taking one. When a Tamil officer in the SIT is asked of his perspective on the conflict, his response remains ambiguous: “One man’s hero is another man’s terrorist.” Even the background score, with a mix of eerie ringed instruments and tense percussion, doesn’t push us towards a particular emotion. It is mindfully used only to raise the tension.

Same holds true for the performances. Amit, who is just coming off a loud, crowd-pleasing act in Raid 2, demonstrates the power of restraint here. His face bears the weight of responsibility as his words carry the urgency of situations. The series is dutifully casted with ordinary, everyday faces taking on the role of officers and the LTTE rebels. After all, beyond their moral and ideological battles, these are regular people with the same worries, joys and tribulations.

The Hunt is at once a textbook investigative thriller and a rarity. It embraces a style that is deeply humbling, returning to the bare necessities of storytelling, and adopts a gaze that is both revelatory and inquisitive. It is clear not to aestheticise reality and politicise facts. Like that history teacher, who may not seem like a good storyteller at first, with his awkward pauses and ordinary oration, but slowly pulls you closer to the truth, making you pause and think over at regular intervals. Unlike the other, more popular one, who claims to be an expert of the past but leans more on empty theatrics. He will leave you gasping, crying, laughing and raging while the former dissects, engages and informs. It’s a battle between rationality and hyper-emotion; a choice between loud myths and quiet truths.