On May 21, 1991, former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated at an election rally in Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu, by a suicide bomber from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The event stunned the country, and the hunt for the killers became one of the most closely followed investigations in Indian history.
The Hunt: The Rajiv Gandhi Assassination Case, now streaming on Sony LIV, revisits this case through a seven-episode series directed by Nagesh Kukunoor and based on journalist Anirudhya Mitra’s book Ninety Days.
The narrative begins at the site of the blast, where investigators recover a Chinon camera from the wreckage. The film inside turns out to be the first big clue, setting off the investigation by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) led by DR Karthikeyan. The show focuses on the back-and-forth of the case, shifting between the investigators and the assassins as both sides move towards an inevitable clash.
Amit Sial plays Karthikeyan, the officer in charge of the SIT, with steady control. His team includes Sahil Vaid as Amit Verma, Bagavathi Perumal as Ragothaman, Danish Iqbal as Amod Kanth, Girish Sharma as Radhavinod Raju and Vidyuth Garg as Captain Ravindran. The show follows their detailed process of tracking suspects, piecing together scattered clues and dealing with internal challenges. The officers speak in calm, practical tones, and their conversations reflect the routine frustrations of the investigation — missed leads, political interference and constant pressure to deliver results.
The other side of the story follows Sivarasan, the LTTE operative behind the assassination. Played by Shafeeq Mustafa, Sivarasan is shown as focused and organised, with a calm surface that hides his role in the plot. The series shows him and his team — including Nalini, Subha and suicide bomber Dhanu — as they hide in plain sight, moving through Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, speaking in Tamil with Lankan accents. The decision to keep their dialogues in Tamil gives the scenes a sense of realism.
The show avoids dramatic twists. The focus remains on the investigation and its many turns, without speeding up the pace to force thrills. The episodes move at a steady rhythm, showing the time-consuming nature of the work. The series spends time on false leads, long waiting periods and the impact of orders coming from higher-ups. One of the most telling moments comes towards the end when the officers track the assassins to a safehouse in Bengaluru but are told to wait for the right moment before moving in. The tension builds slowly, with frustration growing on both sides of the screen.
The series also shows the murky methods used by the investigators, including scenes of custodial torture. Suspects are beaten, threatened with rape and broken down during interrogations. These scenes are not shown for shock value but as part of the system within which the officers are operating, raising questions about the cost of solving such a case and the accepted norms of the time.
But despite its attention to detail, Kukunoor steers clear of several controversial aspects of the case. The Hunt leaves out any mention of the alleged involvement of Indian politicians or the intelligence failure that led to the assassination. It keeps its focus strictly on the mechanics of the investigation, avoiding any references to possible links to domestic political parties.
In a meta moment , one of the investigators frustratingly asks why they are not even allowed to name the powerful person protecting the LTTE militants. In doing so, the show remains firmly procedural, but also sidesteps uncomfortable questions that might have made its portrayal sharper.
The makers also avoid turning the assassins into larger-than-life villains. They are shown as ordinary people carrying out a mission, but there is no effort to make them appear as victims either. The writing stays neutral, sticking to the facts and avoiding judgement.
The production captures the early 1990s well. The series uses details like Ambassador cars, rotary phones, old television sets and printed photographs to place the story firmly in its time. The pace of life, the absence of digital shortcuts and the slower flow of information are all part of the background. Watching this today, the differences between that world and the present stand out.
Still, the themes of the show remain relevant. In one scene, an officer asks how one can tell the difference between a refugee and a militant. That question, posed in the context of the LTTE, has echoes in present-day discussions around security and migration. And the perennial dichotomy of 'one man's freedom fighter is another man's terrorist' lives with you after credits roll.