Set against the Covid-19 backdrop, ‘The Gone Game’ is a remarkable crime thriller considering the logistical complexities of shooting during lockdown.

The Gone Game is a four-episode miniseries that was mostly shot by the actors, with the assistance of skeleton crews at the actors’ own homes. I’d read Parks and Rec co-creator Michael Schur’s interview with EW where he had highlighted the many challenges they had faced while shooting the special episode. Considering this logistics nightmare, it’s a remarkable achievement in itself that the showrunners managed to create such a brilliant mystery thriller.

The series, featuring a solid ensemble cast of OTT regulars, follows the affluent Gujral family as they find themselves stuck in different cities during India’s first lockdown. Sahil (Arjun Mathur), a banker, has just returned to India and is quarantining in his bedroom. His wife Suhani, a social media influencer, sleeps in the living room. The rest of the family includes patriarch, Rajeev Gujral (Sanjay Kapoor), who is stuck in Delhi, his wife, who is in Lucknow, and their daughter, Sahil’s willful sister Amara (Shweta Tripathi), who is in Bengaluru. Things begin to escalate when Sahil starts developing COVID symptoms and before you know it, he is gone!

In 4 tightly-edited episodes with a cumulative runtime of just under two hours, the Voot Select original series expertly recaptures the feeling of uncertainty and paranoia that prevailed over the nation in the early days of the pandemic outbreak to drive forth the brilliant mystery thriller. After tasting disappointment with Asur, which Voot had hyped as India’s first pschyological thriller, Voot has a winner in its hands this time around with The Gone Game.