An Indian man in Sharjah is having sleepless nights ever since the second season of the blockbuster web series Sacred Games hit Netflix, one of the most famous OTT player across the globe, on August 15. Yes! An unintentional faux pas by the makers of Sacred Games 2, gave him the shivers after his mobile number was flashed during the second season of the much-awaited series.
Kunhabdulla CM, a 37-year-old Keralite, who works for a local oil company, had his phone number flashed as fictional gangster Sulaiman Isa's number in the first episode of the new season released this Independence Day. Since then his phone keeps ringing with unwanted calls from around the world.
"I have been getting incessant calls on my phone for the last three days from India, Pakistan, Nepal, the UAE and around the world. I don't know what is happening," Kunhabdulla told the Gulf News. "Hearing my phone ring sends shivers down my spine. I want to cancel my number. I want this problem to go away," he added.
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"I got more than 30 calls today
Kunhabdulla's number went public in the scene where an undercover Indian agent from Kenya hands a chit to Ganesh Gaitonde (Siddiqui) bearing the number of dreaded gangster Isa. Although the number was not visible on the small piece of paper, the subtitles gave it away.
Meanwhile, Netflix, the American media-services provider, has tendered an apology shortly after Kunhabdulla's interview to Gulf News. Writing to the Dubai-based English news paper, the prouction company said, "We apologise for any inconvenience caused. As soon as we were alerted to the situation, we resolved the issue and removed the phone number from the subtitles".
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However, Kunhabdulla has never heard of Sacred Games, the popular crime thriller on Netflix featuring award-winning Bollyood actors like Saif Ali Khan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui. "What's Sacred Games? A video game? I work from 8 am to 7 pm. I don't have time for such things," Kunhabdulla asked.
Sacred Games 2 is a sequel to the critically-acclaimed original series Sacred Games, premiered last year. It was based on Vikram Chandra's award-winning book of the same name. While Khan and Siddiqui are seen reprising their parts as Sartaj Singh and Ganesh Gaitonde in the new season, Pankaj Tripathi played a full-fledged role of mysterious Guruji.
Kalki Koechlin and Ranvir Shorey are the latest additions to the series. Like season one, Anurag Kashyap was at the helm of the portions featuring Siddiqui, while Neeraj Ghaywan of "Masaan" fame directed the scenes with Khan. Vikramaditya Motwane and Varun Grover returned as the showrunner and the lead writer, respectively.