The Hunt – The Rajiv Gandhi Assassination Cast/Actors: Amit Sial, Sahil Vaid, Bucks, Danish Iqbal, Vidyut Gargi, Shafeeq Mustafa, Gouri Padmakumar, Anjana Balaji, Sai Dinesh & Others
The Hunt – The Rajiv Gandhi Assassination Director: Nagesh Kukunoor
The Hunt – The Rajiv Gandhi Assassination Release Date: 4th July, 2025
The Hunt – The Rajiv Gandhi Assassination Available On: Sony LIV OTT Platform
The Hunt – The Rajiv Gandhi Assassination Released/Available In Languages: Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam & Bengali
The Hunt – The Rajiv Gandhi Assassination Number Of Episodes: 7
The Hunt – The Rajiv Gandhi Assassination Episode Duration: 50 Minutes (Approx Each Episode)
The Hunt – The Rajiv Gandhi Assassination Critic Review:
“When was the last time we had a drink together?” asks an SIT officer.
“When was the last time we slept?” shoots back his colleague.
It sums up the captivating 90-day hunt that writer-director Nagesh Kukunoor turns into a 7-part show, making the viewer walk in step with the untiring SIT that’s set up to find Rajiv Gandhi’s killers.
We know the LTTE did it.
We know why they did it.
We know the deep hatred the LTTE had for the leader who sent the Indian Peacekeeping Force (IPKF) to quell the militant movement in Sri Lanka.
We know they wanted him dead before he became the PM again.
We know the LTTE, led by Prabhakaran, bombed, killed, tortured people in their fight for a separate Tamil state of Eelam in Sri Lanka.
But there’s more.
Kukunoor takes Anirudhya Mitra’s book 90 days as his basic material and takes you to the SIT led by D.R.Karthikeeyan (Amit Sial), IGP CRPF, with his hand-picked experts from the CBI and other Indian agencies, to crack the case.
We know how it ended. A pregnant Nalini and Das and all the LTTE assassins who were caught alive, served sentences of over 30 years in jail.
But some bit the cyanide pill.
Kukunoor with his co-writers Rohit G Banawlikar and Sriram Rajan lays bare a frighteningly fascinating network of LTTE sympathisers and supporters in and around Tamil Nadu. The assassination wouldn’t have been possible without help from within India.
As the SIT says, it’s a unique enemy. With an alarming network trained and ready to die and kill for its cause of Eelam, an enemy that wears a cyanide capsule around its neck, willing to die rather than be captured alive. A network which operates on the principle of the left hand need not know what the right is doing. Therefore, each captured militant can reveal only that much about the operation or the movement. And Prabhakar is worshipped as Thalaivar.
Alongside glimpses of the setup in Jaffna (Prabhakaran’s headquarters) and how it operates, like a scene where the human bomb belt is perfected and tested or the dry run the LTTE did with V.P. Singh, watch how the SIT did its job of gathering credible intel, the lucky breaks (like a camera surviving the blast), closing in on each LTTE operative, using unmentionable methods to break those in custody and being prepared to counter the effects of cyanide. 3 steps in 30 seconds, as they’re taught when given the kit.
What the SIT is not prepared for comes towards the last couple of episodes. The calls from “higher authorities”, with hints that it goes right up to Delhi where Narasimha Rao is ensconced in the PM’s chair. Orders that checkmate the final victory of the SIT. Calls that ensure certain names and the truth behind the assassination stay buried with the dead.
Kukunoor uses an interesting background score (original music by Tapas Relia) with instruments like the mridangam that plays, recedes and comes to the fore, making quite an impact. Cinematographer Sangram Giri also captures the mood without obtrusive gimmickry.
Watching the sub-titles is necessary since the Tamil movement has a mixture of Tamil, Hindi and English dialogues.
There is a perfect cast in place. But I’d pick the sober Amit Sial (Karthikeeyan, the leader of the SIT) and Sahil Vaid (Amit Verma, disturbed by the calls from the higher-ups) as the two who stand out.
The Hunt – The Rajiv Gandhi Assassination Watch Or Not?: It is a gripping and enlightening watch.
The Hunt – The Rajiv Gandhi Assassination Review Score Rating: 3.5 out of 5 (i.e. 3.5/5)
The Hunt – The Rajiv Gandhi Assassination Official Trailer:
Credits: Sony LIV
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 tasked with nailing the LTTE moved step by step to nab them with efficacious proof makes for a riveting watch, says our review.){kind=link}