The Secret of the Shiledars - The Maratha Code

The Secret of the Shiledars

Hindi - Adventure

6 episodes ~ 40 mins 
Disney+ Hotstar

I have always been a fan of the Treasure Hunt/Adventure genre—whether it’s McKenna’s Gold (and its Hindi remake Zalzala), Indiana Jones, Tomb Raider, The Mummy, National Treasure, Ram Gopal Varma’s Govinda Govinda, the genre-breaking Tumbbad, and many more! The Cast, the director Aditya Sarpodar (Munjya, Zombivli) and the show’s compact runtime encouraged me to look beyond the intrigue of the title, albeit with tempered expectations.

The story follows  Dr Ravi Bhatt (Rajeev Khandelwal), who discovers that he is part of a secret society, the Shiledars, sworn to protect a hidden treasure from the time of Shivaji Maharaj and the Marathas. Meanwhile, a group of seekers led by Governor Ramachandran (Kanan Arunachalam) are hunting for the treasure, believing they are its rightful heirs due to their Vijayanagar roots.

Ravi is aided on this quest by his brother Aditya, Priyal (Sai Tamhankar) and  eventually by a Maratha Empire historian Pratap Rao (Ashish Vidhyarthi). The six-episode series breezes by, uncovering secrets hidden in plain sight at famous locations such as  Raj Bhavan (Mumbai), the temples in Badami and the Raigadh fort. 

The series leans more towards  "The Da Vinci Code", while borrowing a couple of character tropes from National Treasure. However, it’s still worth watching for its genuine attempt to adapt the treasure hunt genre to Indian sensibilities—and doing a pretty good job without feeling overly jingoistic. That said, you can probably predict all the twists.

With no frills, a short runtime, good production values, and sincere performances (though Kanan Arunachalam feels a little campy as the greedy Governor!), this is a solid departure from the usual OTT fare. If you’re looking for something fun, familiar, and family-friendly, this will work for you.