MUMBAI: Inspired by Mumbai’s underworld, gritty gang culture, and infamous crime syndicates from the 1960s and beyond, Spotify has announced a new Original podcast, Gangistan. Featuring actors Pratik Gandhi, Saiyami Kher, and Dayashankar Pandey, the fictional Hindi podcast tells the sweeping fictional story of the city’s underbelly, based on acclaimed crime journalist Aashu Patel’s true reports.

The 48-episode fictional crime thriller, produced by OfSpin Media Friends, centres around a no-nonsense journalist (Pratik Gandhi, who plays Aashu Patel) committed to unraveling the dark web of Mumbai’s crime through two most unusual sources - an encounter cop (Saiyami Kher) and the ghost of a small-time goon (Dayashankar Pandey). As the episodes progress, the podcast reveals dire incidents and stories from both the underworld as well as the police’s perspective, involving the city’s most notorious gangs, absorbing listeners in a twisted yet fascinating storyline of gang wars, rivalry, bloodshed, politics, the common man, sex, romance and betrayal.

“Playing the role of Aashu, and immersing myself in complex emotions and intriguing situations was a treat. I was able to naturally relate with the protagonist’s ambition and thoroughly enjoyed the challenge of having to use only my voice to perform the role. Podcasts have an amazing, intimate ability that redefines how we tell stories today, and I am certain I’ll end up doing more of these”, said Pratik Gandhi.

According to Unni Nambudripad, Executive Producer – Podcasts, Spotify India, “There are so many thrilling stories around the ‘Mumbai Underworld’, and we wanted to make a gripping podcast that is based on many such real life incidents. We're excited to have actors like Pratik Gandhi, Saiyami Kher, and Dayashankar Pandey give life to these roles through their gripping performances and eager for listeners to come back for more mystery, drama and history on this podcast, week after week.”

For journalist Aashu Patel, podcasts feel close to his heart. “I’ve watched movies on Mumbai crime, dons, and the underworld, but audio has an appeal similar to that of the power of the pen, in the sense that it’s left to the audience’s imagination to picturise the story. As Gangistan’s director Siddhanta Pinto likes to say, we are finally scratching the surface of the power of audio with this show. Writing Gangistan with Heer Khant brought back so many memories from my journalism days. It is truly a grand story, over a grand timeline of several decades, straddling both fiction and non-fiction. This has never been done before in the Audio space.”, he said.

The launch of Gangistan adds to Spotify’s recent actor-led podcasts, including Virus 2062 and ACP Gautam. You can stream and download Gangistan for free on Spotify. Click here.