Gandhari has become one of the biggest Indian OTT stories of the year, topping Netflix’s global non-English chart and pulling millions of views across 58 countries. But behind Taapsee Pannu’s lead performance is a deep, mostly non-Bollywood ensemble, actors known for Panchayat, Paatal Lok, Sacred Games and Marathi cinema, quietly carrying the film’s supporting weight. Here’s who plays who, and where each actor’s career stands right now.
Taapsee Pannu as Bani Sikdar
Pannu plays Bani, the mother at the center of the story: a lower-middle-class housewife in the fictional Bengali town of Joypurra whose daughter, Mishty, is abducted in a busy train station, and who loses her eyesight in the chaos of trying to chase down the kidnapper. The investigation that follows uncovers a trafficking ring called The Blackhole. It’s Pannu’s most physically demanding role to date, reuniting her with writer-producer Kanika Dhillon following their earlier collaboration on Phir Aayi Hasseen Dillruba. Current status: this is the biggest global moment of Pannu’s career, with Gandhari holding the No. 1 spot on Netflix’s worldwide non-English chart and ranking in the Top 10 across 58 countries.
Ishwak Singh as Gokul
Singh plays Gokul, a role opposite Pannu in the investigation thread. He’s best known for playing an idealistic young cop in Paatal Lok and for Rocket Boys, both of which earned him Filmfare OTT Award nominations, along with a supporting role in Made in Heaven season 2 and the spy thriller Berlin. Current status: 2026 is a genuinely packed year for him. Beyond Gandhari, he’s part of Prakash Jha’s Janaadesh and Gaurav Madan’s indie feature What Remains, and has reportedly learned three separate dialects, including Bengali speech patterns, across his different 2026 roles.
Chhaya Kadam as Uma Didi
Kadam plays Uma Didi, part of the world Bani navigates during her search. A Marathi and Hindi film veteran, Kadam is best known internationally for All We Imagine as Light, which premiered at Cannes in 2024, and domestically for Nagraj Manjule’s Fandry, Sairat and Jhund. Current status: she remains one of the most in-demand character actresses working across both Marathi and Hindi cinema, with Gandhari marking her latest high-profile streaming role.
Swastika Mukherjee as Churni Didi
Mukherjee plays Churni Didi in the same Joypurra ensemble. A prominent Bengali-language actress with a long career across West Bengal’s film industry, she brings regional authenticity to a film explicitly set in a Bengali small town, though at least one review flagged the film’s broader depiction of Bengali culture and language as unconvincing despite the cast’s efforts.
Mita Vashisht as Jhunu Amba
Vashisht, a veteran character actress with decades of Hindi film and television credits, plays Jhunu Amba, an elder figure within the story’s community. She’s one of the more experienced names in an ensemble otherwise built around actors better known for streaming-era work than for classic Bollywood careers.
Jatin Sarna as Kabir
Sarna plays Kabir. He’s best known for playing Deepak “Bunty” Shinde in Sacred Games, a role that won him an MTV IWM award for Most Popular Supporting Actor in a Web Series, and has since built a steady filmography including Sonchiriya, 83, and Netflix’s Khakee: The Bihar Chapter. Current status: alongside Gandhari, his 2026 slate includes Na Jaane Kaun Aa Gaya, Maa Behen, and the Tamil sequel Jailer 2, which was in production at the time of Gandhari’s release.
Chandan Roy as Somesh
Roy plays Somesh, a supporting role quite different from the character that made him a household name. He’s Vikas Shukla from Panchayat, the Prime Video series whose fourth season released in June 2025 and remains one of the most-loved comedy-dramas on Indian streaming. Roy has spoken about Panchayat’s specific, low-key appeal, describing it as “comfort food” television in a landscape full of “spicy” over-the-top content. Current status: Gandhari is a notable departure in tone from the show that built his career, and a sign he’s branching into darker, more dramatic material.
Prashant Narayanan as Dada, Vishwanath Chatterjee as Inspector Saha, and Priti Shroff as ASI Sanjukta
These three round out the film’s law-enforcement and antagonist-adjacent roles. Narayanan plays Dada, Chatterjee plays Inspector Saha, and Shroff plays ASI Sanjukta, part of the police-procedural spine that runs alongside Bani’s personal search. Public biographical detail on this trio is limited compared to the film’s better-known names, so specifics on their other current projects aren’t reliably available.
Myrah Shivan as Mishty
Shivan plays Mishty, Bani’s kidnapped daughter, whose abduction sets the entire plot in motion. As a young performer with a thinner public profile than the adult cast, detailed career information beyond this role isn’t reliably available.
How the Film Has Actually Landed
Gandhari’s commercial and critical stories have diverged sharply. On the numbers, it’s a clear win: Netflix’s No. 1 global non-English film for the week of September 7-13, 2026, with 9.6 million views that week alone after a 5.9 million-view debut, and Top 10 placement in 58 countries. Critically, the reception has been considerably cooler, with at least one review calling the film “forgettable” and criticizing its handling of Bengali culture and language despite the ensemble’s efforts, while still praising Pannu’s individual performance. It’s a split that’s becoming familiar across Indian OTT this year: audience numbers and critical consensus telling two different stories about the same film.
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