The trailer of the upcoming streaming series ‘Raakh’ was unveiled on Wednesday, and it promises a gripping fictional investigative thriller set in the late 1970s. 

It traces a crime that sends shockwaves across the nation, and leads to a nationwide manhunt that explores the collision between crime and justice. The series seems to be heavily inspired by the Ranga-Billa case of kidnapping and extortion of siblings.

The trailer opens with a close-up of a pair of eyes and a maniacal laugh that sets the tone for what follows. It is packed with fast-paced and intense visuals, and pulls viewers into the world of Babu (played by Akash Makhija) and Rajjo (played by Ramandeep Yadav). Through sharp flashes of the crimes they’ve committed, the trailer gives us a glimpse into their troubled pasts, peeling back the layers of their twisted minds, revealing the forces that shaped them.

Talking about the series, creators, writers, and co-directors Anusha Nandakumar and Sandeep Saket said, “At the end of the day, what stays with you from great crime stories is rarely just the crime or the investigation. You remember the deeply human emotions. With Raakh, we wanted audiences to explore emotional spaces they wouldn’t expect from a crime thriller, because crime is not the only thing that happens in a crime story, it’s also about everything else it leaves in its wake. From the very beginning, we weren’t interested in building a world that revolved solely around the mystery”.

The series stars Sonali Bendre, Ali Fazal, and Aamir Bashir in lead roles, along with Akash Makhija, Ramandeep Yadav, Divya Sharma, Vivaan Sharma, Anshul Chauhan, Rakesh Bedi, and Dibyendu Bhattacharya in pivotal roles.

“We wanted to create a holistic emotional landscape around it, one that explored grief, guilt, love, anger, and the ways in which a single act can ripple through the lives of everyone it touches. For us, the most compelling question wasn’t just ‘Who did it?’, but ‘What does this do to the people left behind?’”, they added.

The series is directed and executive produced by Prosit Roy, and created, written and co-directed by Anusha Nandakumar and Sandeep Saket along with dialogues by Ayush Trivedi.

The series is set to premiere on Prime Video on June 12.