Review of Web series SANKALP (Amazon MX player)

by 

S. Prabhakar

After a long wait, another web series comes from the stable of Prakash Jha, an expert in churning out engaging political thrillers.    Sankalp also has heavy doses of political games, moves and counter moves between the team of Delhi CM (Sanjay Kapoor) and his shrewd political advisor, Waqar (Neeraj Kabi) pitted against razor-sharp strategist Maat Saab, brilliantly played by Nana Patkar, supported by civil servants in every department who were trained in their childhood and student days in the gurukul run by Maat Saab.   The misuse of the police and other Government machinery, the goons, media, and tapping by politicians, all facets were well covered.   With each move, the fortunes keep swinging from one side to the other, keeping the proceedings engaging.  

Nana's character is so calm, composed and calculative, and the normally fiery brand Nana is shown in an altogether different Avatar by Prakash Jha.    Neeraj Kabi turned out to be a surprise package, standing tall with his performance shoulder to shoulder with Nana.   He made us feel that no one could appraise that role, so calculative and menacing.   Zeeshan Ayub is competent as Aditya, IPS officer who plays into the hands of CM and his advisor,  and all other actors did well in their respective roles.  

The biggest drawback has been the length of the web series, spanning to 10 episodes and a total run time of over 460 minutes.   Howsoever, the writing and direction are good, it makes the proceedings slow and dragging.   As long as Nana camp or the CM camp was on the screen, the proceedings were interesting, but there are many sub-plots where the proceedings dropped and dragged and could not get connected to the main plot, and one feels that the series would have been better served without them.  

 

Whether it's Gangajal, Apaharan, Mrityudand, or Rajneeti, Prakash Jha is known for racy political thrillers, and that element was sadly missing in this long-drawn web series.   At the end of over 460 minutes, the story is not concluded, and Nana says that aur ek Sankalp karna padega, so you can expect season 2.   The directors should desist the temptation of dragging a web series too long and should end it with a maximum of 7 episodes of 35 minutes each.   Beyond that, it becomes tiring and painful to watch.   I would rather enjoy watching Prakash Jha’s Gangajal or Apaharan one more time

Though there can be no comparison between Sankalp and Dhurandhar, one point which Sankalp proves is that you can make an engaging and thrilling movie/web series with a bare minimum of violence, over-the-top action scenes and abusive language and definitely directors like Prashant Neel, Sandeep Vanga, Aditya Dhar and Boyapati Srinu can take a leaf from Prakash Jha and tone down violent action scenes and still can have same effect.      

There are lot of plus points in Sankalp, strongly recommended if you have the patience and time to sit through 10 episodes of 45 minutes each

S. Prabhakar

22.3.2026