Jamtara – Sabka Number Ayega


Jamtara – Sabka Number Ayega stylised as Jamta₹a is an Indian crime drama television series created and directed by Soumendra Padhi and written by Trishant Srivastava. The story revolves around the social engineering operations in the Jamtara district of Jharkhand. It was released on Netflix on 10 January 2020. The second season premiered on 23 September 2022.

Cast and characters

Synopsis

The story revolves a bunch of small-town young men who operate a successful phishing racket, until they come across a corrupt politician who wants a share of their business. Eventually, a newly appointed police superintendent decides to take down the entire illicit industry.

Production

In 2015, Padhi read an article about the phishing operations carried out by school children in Jamtara district which sparked his interest. He sent his writing team to do research. The character of female SP Dolly Sahu was based on Jamtara's Superintendent Jaya Roy.

Reception

Kirubhakar Purushothaman of The New Indian Express said that the plot of the series is "tightly-written and disseminates information seamlessly, hooking us from the word go." Udita Jhunjunwala of Scroll.in called it "extremely binge-able" and wrote: "The characterisation and dynamics of Jamtara land somewhere in the realm of the Anurag Kashyap meets Tigmanshu Dhulia universe."
Tanisha Bagchi of The Quint wrote: "Had the narrative been more layered, Jamtara would have been a huge feather in the cap for Netflix, which has churned out disappointing originals such as Chopsticks, Drive, Ghost Stories, etc." Rohan Nahar of Hindustan Times gave a positive review and said that the "underdog series washes away the stench of recent big-budget failures" for Netflix.