Set in Mumbai and shot on location in India, the Hindi-English online series is based on the critically acclaimed book by author Vikram Chandra. It will be available to Netflix subscribers globally upon release.

Part crime novel, part love story, the 2006 literary success Sacred Games explores Mumbai’s dark underworld of organised crime, corruption, politics and espionage.

“Over the last few years, I’ve watched with great excitement and pleasure as Netflix has transformed narrative television with its ground-breaking, genre-bending shows. I’m confident that all the colour and vitality and music of the fictional world I’ve lived with for so long will come fully alive on the large-scale canvas provided by Netflix. I’m thrilled to be working with Netflix and Phantom Films,” said author Vikram Chandra.

Production house Phantom, run by Anurag Kashyap, has previously worked on Motwane’s film of Chakra The Invincible, from the creator of Spider-Man Stan Lee, a TV version of which has already aired on Cartoon Network India.

“Sacred Games reinforces our commitment to bring the authenticity of local stories to Netflix members across 190 countries worldwide,” said Erik Barmack, VP international original series, Netflix.

Netflix previously worked with Phantom’s Kashyap on the epic Gangs of Wasseypur, which was streamed as an eight-part series on-demand in the US in 2015. At this year’s Sundance Film Festival the US company also acquired comedy coming of age movie Brahman Naman, which is set for a global launch on Netflix on 7 July.

About 1.3 million customers subscribed to video-on-demand (VOD) services provided by over-the-top (OTT) platforms in India in early 2016, according to Frost & Sullivan.