The story of Arjun Bhatia, a teenage immigrant from Lahore who works with Delhi's top illicit arms dealer Jagan Seth, is told in the 2023 TV mini-series Sultan of Delhi. The series is based on Arnab Ray's novel Sultan of Delhi: Ascension.[7]
The story follows the ascension of a mobster in 1960s Delhi. Arjun is a 1947 Partition survivor who witnessed his family's slaughter. He makes it through the night with his father and arrives at Delhi.[7]
The show opens with a gathering of a half-dozen elderly men who oversee the city's underbelly. Farooq Mastaan (Anil George) calls the conference to order and tells the gang leaders to work together. He designates Arjun as the foremost among equals, the guy who will henceforth make the decisions. [7]
The series delves into a story of greed, treachery, bravery, and the ultimate struggle for dominance.[7]
Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV rated the series 1.5 out of 5 stars and wrote "Pulp fiction paraded as a chronicle of a time of immense import, Sultan of Delhi is a rather desultory adaptation of a passable book that has an undeniable sense of history."[13]
Deepa Gahlot for Rediff.com stated "Characters pop in without explanation, like a mysterious white man, Daniel, who wears a pilot's uniform all the time (the costume budget must have run out with Shankari's outfits), and there are bizarre scenes, like Arjun stripping to impress a rival gangster." and rated the series 2.5 stars.[14]
Scroll.in stated "The show likes its racy moments – a distraction from the escalating tedium, perhaps?"[15]
