Arabia Kadali is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video, available since August 8, 2025. It’s a Telugu web series based on the real life incident of Andhra Pradesh fishermen who were detained in Pakistan after they crossed the international waters by mistake. Directed by VV Surya Kumar and produced by Krish Jagarlamudi and Chintakindi Srinivas Rao, the 8 episode series has Satyadev as Nuragala Badiri and Anandhi as Ganga. The story is about resilience, love and systemic injustice. While the series has good performances and a good premise, the predictable narrative and uneven execution makes it from 2 to 4 stars.
The series begins in the coastal villages of Srikakulam, where Badiri, a thoughtful fisherman from Chepalawada and Ganga, a determined schoolteacher from rival village Matsyawada, fall in love. Driven by poverty and lack of infrastructure like a jetty, Badiri and his fellow fishermen migrate to Gujarat for work. A fateful fishing trip takes them into Pakistani waters and they get arrested and imprisoned. The narrative cuts between their brutal jail life and Ganga’s fight back home to get them released, showing the emotional and political cost of their situation. The Hindu notes the heart wrenching premise but says the series lacks depth in character development, a sentiment echoed across reviews.
Satyadev is fantastic; he brings quiet strength and emotional depth to Badiri and is the anchor of the series. Anandhi is good as Ganga; she is gritty and vulnerable but her track feels underwritten. The supporting cast, including Nasser, Poonam Bajwa and Harsh Roshan, adds to the authenticity. Roshan’s role as Ganga’s troubled brother is the standout. But characters like the Pakistani jailer Saleem (Amit Tiwari) and others like Dalip Tahil’s are reduced to stereotypes or underutilized and the dialogue is so cliched that it dilutes their impact. The New Indian Express praises the series for not having caricaturish villains, especially in Saleem’s redemption arc, but India Today points out dated visuals and soap opera style staging that kills the drama.
Technically, Arabia Kadali is a mixed bag. Sameer Reddy’s camera work captures the sea and the villages well but the VFX in the storm scenes and flat camera work is a let down. Nagavelli Vidyasagar’s music is good for emotional beats, but not memorable. The screenplay is ambitious in its cross cutting between prison and village lif,e but the middle episodes are a drag and some subplots like Ganga’s brother’s track, feels half baked. The cultural accuracy, including the use of native languages for non Telugu characters, is a plus but the familiarity with Naga Chaitanya’s hit film Thandel which is based on the same 2018 incident, reduces the novelty as Pinkvilla notes.
The series does a great job of highlighting the systemic issues of the fishermen—overfished waters, corporate exploitation, bureaucratic neglect—and weaves in a subtle message of unity across rival villages and nations. Scroll.in says it focuses on human endurance over politics but Times Now says it relies on predictable patriotic tropes and lacks narrative innovation. The last line of the final episode about the importance of new found freedom is thought provoking but the series misses opportunities to add emotional weight as Leisurebyte points out.
Arabia Kadali is a sincere drama that benefits from Satyadev and Anandhi’s performances and the rooted portrayal of coastal communities. But the repetitive story, pacing issues and technical glitches hold it back from being the epic it could have been. For those who don’t know Thandel, it’s an engaging emotional ride but for those looking for new storytelling, it’s a let down. Rating: ★★★☆☆ (3/5)