Abhiroop Das
Helmed and written by Pulkit, Netflix’s ‘Kartavya’ questions the cyclicality of abuse and whether one can figure out a way to break free from it. In the small town of Jhamli, a collectively regressive mindset seems to have stunted the lives of many, including SHO Pawan. Overworked and constantly put into moral dilemmas, Pawan receives the biggest surprise on his birthday night when a journalist he is tasked with protecting is murdered. As public pressure mounts, Pawan is tasked with either solving the case or being suspended, and he naturally chooses the former. However, what he does not expect going into this mystery is the forces he would have to deal with. Enter Anand Shri, a mysterious cult leader who seems to have a grip over the entire village, save for Pawan.
Over the course of this crime thriller movie, Pawan discovers that Anand Shri is suspected of a number of crimes and may be using his power and cultural cache as a veil. As such, the central conflict of right and wrong manifests in this movie as one between Anand Shri and Pawan, ultimately opening the movie up to a more complicated answer to the questions it posits
Anand Shri is an Invented Guru Potentially Referencing Real-Life Convicted Spiritual Leaders
Anand Shri is a fictional guru of a religious cult created by writer-director Pulkit specifically for the world of ‘Kartavya.’ While Anand Shri Ashram seems reminiscent of real-life cults and other social groups upon first glance, no such parallels have been confirmed as of writing, which makes things speculative at best. It is possible that the character of Anand Shri is a loose composite of former spiritual leaders who have been convicted of sexual assault. That said, much of how Anand Shri is depicted retains its roots in fiction, especially in how the story ties to Pawan’s investigative journey over the course of the film.
Notably, while Anand Shri as a whole may be a figure invented by the writing team, some aspects of his characterization seem loosely inspired by specific real-life events. In particular, the opening sequence of the movie, where a journalist is murdered after she accuses Anand Shri of sexually assaulting young boys, seems to be a potential reference to the murder of journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati, who on October 24, 2002, was shot by two men riding a motorcycle. Reportedly, Chhatrapati was among the first to accuse Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, former leader of the Dera Sacha Sauda group, of sexual assault.
Ram Rahim was later found guilty on two counts of sexual assault, among other crimes, and sentenced to twenty years in prison on August 28, 2017. Two years later, on January 11, 2019, a special CBI court convicted Ram Rahim of the murder of Ram Chander; however, that verdict was overturned on March 7, 2026, by the Punjab and Haryana high court. As such, the film’s depiction of Anand Shri contains enough fictional elements to push these loose parallels into the realm of coincidence. While it is possible that the character is influenced by the creative team’s research into real-life convictions and controversies surrounding the subject, at the heart of it lies writer-director Pulkit’s vision to capture several social realities under one lens. The cult of Anand Shri, as such, serves as a channel for such commentary.
Read More: Kartavya: Is Jhamli Based on a Real Town or Village?
