4 min readMay 8, 2026 03:58 PM IST
Lukhhe review: Udta Punjab? Or Viksit Punjab? The question, the answer to which is a no-brainer, runs through a thread in this eight-part series, which is a frustrating mix of the good and the indifferent: when it sticks to its own voice, and it has one, it flies; when it goes all Bollywood, it slides.
I watched the opening of Lukhhe with my heart in my mouth, as I promise you, you will too. You know the outcome of the mad race in the night on empty Chandigarh roads between a pill-popping Lucky (Lakshvir Singh Saran) with his bestie beside him, and a car full of aggressive mundas, and you want to scream, slow down, be careful. It’s one of the most kinetic starts I’ve seen recently.
People high on substance rarely know when to stop, and it’s only when something drastic happens that a corrective is forced upon them: Lucky and his ‘recovery buddy’ Sanober (Palak Tiwari) at a de-addiction centre quickly form an alliance which comes off natural and fresh, even if it feels too sudden.
This bond between the two, getting knocked and shaped by their specific domestic circumstances, forms the strongest thing about the show, which, after the second episode, starts feeling familiar: good cops (Raashii Khanna as Gurbani) with sad backstories, drugs cooked up hidden nooks (named, aptly, Demon), rival rappers (King as MC Badnaam and Shivankit Singh Parihar as the slit-eyed, much tattooed OG) and gun-toting mobsters (Ayesha Raza).
But what keeps the series afloat, despite its predictable bits, are the performances and the vivid cinematography, even if you can tell what’s going to happen next. Lakshvir Saran, so good in Meel Pathar, and Pataal Lok, drives the show with his vulnerability and strength. Raashii Khanna is saddled with a role which is a near-trope, despite the add-ons the script hands out to her, but she stays effective. As do King in his acting debut, and his homies, Paddy (Kritika Bharadwaj) and Jazzy (Nakul Roshan Sahdev): like the other supporting actors, these two are given a chance to show their stuff, and this too adds to the show.
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What takes it away is the addition of contract killers (Pitobash) forced into being funnymen, constantly chomping corpulent cops (Akarsh Khurana), foul-mouthed daddies and their scared sons, who both like to declaim, I am the man. Yes, the show also takes a shot at talking about masculinity and same sex love, but they become just one more element, especially the latter, which seems to have been included almost as an after-thought. The show does zero favours to the terrific Ayesha Raza, miscast as the fearsome female Escobar: Dimple Kapadia got there first in the 2023 Saas Bahu aur Flamingo, with greater efficacy.
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And, for a show about rappers, it doesn’t leave you with memorable tracks. Plus, just where in neat, geometrically laid-out Chandigarh is the painted house in which Badnaam lives? I never could shake off the feeling that it was a set.
Lukhhe cast: Lakshvir Saran, King, Palak Tiwari, Raashii Khanna, Shivankit Singh Parihar, Akarsh Khurana, Gittika Ganju, Nakul Roshan Sahdev, Kritika Bharadwaj, Yograj Singh, Ayesha Raza, Pitobash
Lukhhe director: Himank Gaur
Lukhhe rating: Two and a half stars
