Netflix’s Black Warrant’s True Story, Explained

of Netflix’s Black Warrant’s True Story, Explained Diksha Sundriyal
January 10, 2025

Netflix’s true crime drama series, ‘Black Warrant,’ follows the story of Sunil Kumar Gupta, who becomes a prison officer at Tihar Jail in Delhi. At the beginning of the story, he is an optimistic and idealistic man who wants to bring change in society. However, with each day, his optimism is chipped away and he becomes privy to a harsh reality. The prisoners and their crimes in the story go on the backfoot as more focus is laid on the system that exploits them and worsens their situation rather than rehabilitating them. As Sunil tries to fight and bring about a change, he finds himself challenged on several levels, primarily by his superiors. Created by Vikramaditya Motwane and Satyanshu Singh, the series poses some very important questions in front of the audience by unfolding real stories in the course of seven episodes. SPOILERS AHEAD.

Black Warrant is a Dramatisation of Sunil Gupta’s Career as a Prison Officer in Tihar

‘Black Warrant’ is a true story that charts the career of former superintendent of Tihar Jail, Sunil Gupta. It is based on the non-fiction book, ‘Black Warrant: Confessions of a Tihar Jailer,’ which Gupta co-authored with journalist Sunetra Choudhury. One of the, if not the longest-serving superintendents of one of the largest prison complexes in the world, he retired from his post in 2016. In his service of around four decades, he witnessed all sorts of things in the prison, along with the execution of 14 black warrants that mark the death sentence of the prisoners. The Netflix series brings to the screen the cases that he has detailed in his book. In doing so, it also dramatizes certain aspects and characters to give more depth and a better pace to the show. For the most part, however, the series remains pretty close to the facts.

For instance, the part about Charles Sobhraj leading a life of luxury in Tihar and exerting such influence that he helped Sunil Gupta secure his job in the prison is based on reality. His shocking and dramatic escape in the end is also based on real events and is not made up by the show’s creators. Apart from this, the show also turns its attention toward major events that took place in the 80s and the prisoners who were hanged in Tihar during this time. One of the cases sheds light on the brutal murder of Geeta and Sanjay Chopra and the hanging of their murderers, Ranga and Billa, in 1982. According to Sunil Gupta’s account, Ranga had a pulse while he was on the rope, and his death had to be hastened with a different method.

In the same vein, the show also focuses on the case of Kartar and Ujagar Singh, who were put on death row for murdering a woman for a measly price. While they were hanged for it in 1983, the woman’s husband, Dr. Jain, who paid Kartar and Ujagar, had a much easier sentence. The series also presents the hanging of terrorist Maqbool Butt and the volatility in the aftermath of Indira Gandhi’s assassination. Apart from this, the book also focuses on the execution of the hanging of Indira Gandhi’s assassin Satwant Singh and his conspirator Kehar Singh, the execution of terrorist Afzal Guru, and the circumstance surrounding the death of the rapist Ram Singh. However, the first season of the show does not focus on these cases as they take place outside of the timeline covered in the seven episodes.

Vikramaditya Motwane Wanted Black Warrant to be a Realistic Portrayal of Indian Prisons

When Vikramaditya Motwane read Sunil Gupta’s book, he was immediately taken by it and wanted to give it a cinematic turn. However, he also saw the narrative challenge presented by the book, which covers the entire career of the protagonist in a mere two hundred pages. To expand the story for the show, several fictional elements had to be added, and the lives of the central characters had to be expanded to create space for character development. For this, some characters in the show are either made up or a composite of the real people who worked with Sunil Gupta.

Another thing that Motwane focused on was making the prison seem as realistic as possible. Because almost all of the story takes place in the prison, it was important to find a location befitting the story. As part of his research, he visited Tihar jail to get an idea of what the place looks like. The production team found a defunct jail in Bhopal to film the interiors, while a replica of the Tihar gate was created to film exterior scenes. Apart from this, some set pieces were also created to fill in other places that appear repeatedly in the show.

Citing David Fincher’s ‘Mindhunter’ as one of the influences on ‘Black Warrant,’ Motwane revealed that his intent was to present prison life from the perspective of a voyeur and to give the audience a glimpse of what life in prison is like, especially for the officers who work there. This sentiment is shared by Sunil Gupta, who wanted to give the general public an insight into the workings of a prison, the challenges faced by the officers who have to run the place, and the mental and psychological toll that the job can take at times. More importantly, he wanted to familiarise the audience with the thought process of the prisoners, specifically the ones on death row.

Read More: Best Prison Shows on Netflix

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