Satya to Police Company: Ram Gopal Varma films that explored Mumbai’s underworld

From Satya and Department and Police Company, explore Ram Gopal Varma's films that have delved into Mumbai's underworld and encounter policing.

New Delhi: Few filmmakers have returned to Mumbai’s crime landscape as consistently as Ram Gopal Varma. From the gangsters and fractured loyalties of Satya and Company to the encounter-policing narratives of Ab Tak Chhappan and Department, his films have repeatedly explored the uneasy space where organised crime, ambition, power and the police intersect.

With Police Company in 2026, this recurring cinematic preoccupation enters another chapter, this time drawing inspiration from Mumbai’s encounter squad and the story of encounter specialist Daya Nayak. Together, these films trace Varma’s evolving engagement with one of the city’s most complex and controversial worlds.

Set amidst the underworld of Mumbai, Satya (1998) stood out as a gritty crime drama. The film follows a young man who arrives in the city and gradually gets drawn into the dangerous world of organised crime. Alongside the criminal underworld, the film also explores........

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