REDEFINED NARRATIVES- HEROES AS CRUSADERS FROM VICTIMS TO UNDERDOGS

The narratives of the heroes have been redefined due to the emergence and popularity of Over-the-top television (OTT) platforms. The representation of the heroes in Indian web series has been seen as saviour of the world, strong female leading characters and representing groundbreaking and radical leads in the previous studies like Munshi,2012; Kanwar & Singh,2021, Vaishnav,2022, Agarwal & Das,2022. Therefore, this study attempts to bridge the gap between the representation of heroes as victims of despicable acts and thus emerging as underdogs as the study deals with intricate details of identity, class, caste and gender through the discourse of crime in the web series Sacred Games, Season 1. The study has been done using Representation Theory as Theoretical Framework and Critical Discourse Analysis as methodology. The findings have shown stereotypical representations of gender and socio-economic conditions of heroes who tries to break the typecast. The results also show the odyssey of heroes as victims of evil acts eventually leading them to become pathfinders and trailblazers against the fight against crime. As a result, this research will give the literature on web series and digital platforms another perspective. Keywords: Heroes, Victims, Critical Discourse Analysis, Representation Theory, Identity, Socio-Economic status, Sacred Games