Sacred Games writer Varun Grover explains the ambiguous ending; did Sartaj save Mumbai or not?

Ever since the second season of Netflix’s Sacred Games was released, fans have been scratching their heads about the ambiguous ending of the series. Writer Varun Grover has now addressed the two possibilities of what might have happened after the screen cut to black in the series finale.

One of two things could have happened. Mumbai could either have been saved by Sartaj Singh, or it could have been destroyed. Both are likely. Several fans have pointed out that the pattern Sartaj uses to crack Shahid Khan’s nuclear bomb is ‘incorrect’, in that it isn’t the same as his father Dilbag Singh’s patten. Sartaj in the final moments of season two comes to the realisation that his father is the key to saving the city, and decides that the pattern assigned to him in Guruji’s book must have a greater purpose.

Grover in an interview to Huffington Post said that “When Dilbag was putting his hands in Guruji’s book, he was the only one who had a doubt about Guruji’s plan of destruction. So if Guruji wanted to make his plan fail-safe, he’d (hide) the passcode (which would disable the bomb) on the page that has Dilbag’s handprints in his book. At that time, Guruji didn’t know Dilbag will be killed by Batya and Malcolm—they do so to eliminate the very idea of fail-safe. But Sartaj cracks it.”

On the other hand, it is equally possible that Sartaj, like Ganesh Gaitonde, has been sucked into Guruji’s cult. This is what Grover had to say about option two: “He’s a complete convert and believes in Guruji’s cause. Which is why he says Aham Brahmasmi in the end. It ties into the theory of Balidaan (sacrifice). Guruji appointed Gaitonde (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) because he wanted to sacrifice Gaitonde with Bombay. When you go to a new yug, you’ve to sacrifice the thing dearest to you and for Guruji, it was Gaitonde. Now, Gaitonde killed himself. But by Sartaj converting to the cult, he’s become the dearest to Batya (Kalki Koechlin), who’s, in many ways, the new Guruji. So Batya tricks Sartaj into going towards the bomb, in an attempt to sacrifice him, along with the city.”

Also read: Sacred Games writer Varun Grover on that lynching scene, and if he would retain the Rajiv Gandhi line in hindsight

While critical reaction to Sacred Games 2 has been largely positive, fans have been more unkind, with several of them questioning the logic of certain characters’ motivations, as well as the great shift in Gaitonde’s character.

Grover in an interview to Hindustan Times said that he wasn’t taken aback by the divisive reactions, but had instead anticipated them. “People will keep on discovering it two years down the line or three years down the line,” he said, adding that he believes, “People who are finding it too complex now, if they go back to it - I hope they go back to it - they will see something more than just a complicated show.”

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