Akka trailer: Keerthy Suresh, Radhika Apte series on Netflix from October 30
By Meera IyerGovernance & Policy Editor, Peepals Bharat
Representative image: yousafbhutta / Pixabay
Netflix and YRF released the Akka trailer on October 22, 2026; the 1980s gangster series with Keerthy Suresh and Radhika Apte streams from October 30.
What Happened
Netflix and YRF Entertainment, the streaming arm of Yash Raj Films, released the trailer of Akka, a period gangster drama series starring Keerthy Suresh and Radhika Apte, in Mumbai on October 22, 2026. The series is written and directed by Dharmaraj Shetty, produced by Aditya Chopra, and will premiere on Netflix worldwide on October 30, 2026. It is set in the 1980s in Pernuru, a fictional coastal place in southern India where women run the underworld.
Key Facts
- Trailer released: October 22, 2026, in Mumbai, by Netflix and YRF Entertainment.
- Premiere: October 30, 2026, on Netflix, for viewers worldwide.
- Writer and director: Dharmaraj Shetty; producer: Aditya Chopra.
- Lead cast: Keerthy Suresh as Bhavani, who holds power in Pernuru, and Radhika Apte as Rudra, an outsider who sets out to break the existing order.
- Supporting cast: Tanvi Azmi, Mahesh Manjrekar, Anshuman Pushkar and Monica Panwar.
- Setting: a fictional 1980s coastal kingdom called Pernuru, built around a matriarchal world of women gangsters.
- Akka is the latest series from the Netflix and YRF Entertainment partnership, which earlier produced The Railway Men, The Romantics, Maharaj and Mandala Murders.
Why It Matters
Indian crime dramas on streaming platforms have mostly placed men at the centre of the gang world, with women as wives, mothers or victims. Akka turns that around. According to the makers, its story imagines a society in which women hold power and fight over it, and the trailer frames the series as a contest between two women for control of one territory.
The idea, the director has said, came while he was working on a gangster film and reading about matriarchal and matrilineal communities in southern India, where family property and lineage pass through women. That historical interest, rather than a remake or a known franchise, is the starting point of the show, which makes it one of the more unusual concepts in this year's line-up of Indian originals.
The casting brings together two well-known actors in a story where both women are the main forces of the plot, rather than one lead and a supporting role. The trailer gives equal weight to Bhavani defending her position and Rudra trying to take it.
Keerthy Suresh has described her character in interviews as powerful but subtle, and has spoken about the preparation behind the role, including script readings, look tests and long discussions with the director. Shetty has said he wanted to give the gangster genre a world with its own rules.
For YRF Entertainment, Akka adds to a run of Netflix series that includes The Railway Men, The Romantics, Maharaj and Mandala Murders, which shows the studio building a steady slate of long-form shows alongside its films.
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Title | Akka |
| Platform and date | Netflix, October 30, 2026 |
| Director | Dharmaraj Shetty |
| Leads | Keerthy Suresh (Bhavani), Radhika Apte (Rudra) |
| Producer | Aditya Chopra, YRF Entertainment |
Impact
Short-term: The trailer sets up Akka as one of Netflix India's main releases of the festive season. Viewers can watch it from October 30, 2026; the number of episodes and the dubbed languages had not been confirmed in the material released with the trailer.
Long-term: If the series finds an audience, it may encourage more Indian crime stories led by women and more shows built on regional history and social structures, rather than on the familiar big-city gangster template.
Who is affected: Netflix subscribers in India and abroad, fans of Keerthy Suresh and Radhika Apte, and writers, actors and technicians working in India's streaming industry, where female-led genre shows are still relatively few.
Key Takeaway
Netflix and YRF's Akka, a 1980s gangster drama in which Keerthy Suresh and Radhika Apte fight for control of a women-run underworld, premieres worldwide on October 30, 2026.
Questions and Answers
When and where can I watch Akka?
Akka premieres on Netflix on October 30, 2026, and will be available to subscribers worldwide, according to Netflix and YRF Entertainment.
What is the Akka web series about?
It is a period gangster drama set in the 1980s in Pernuru, a fictional coastal place in southern India where women run the underworld. Keerthy Suresh plays Bhavani, who holds power, and Radhika Apte plays Rudra, an outsider who challenges her.
Who made Akka?
It is written and directed by Dharmaraj Shetty and produced by Aditya Chopra for YRF Entertainment, the streaming production arm of Yash Raj Films.
Who else is in the cast?
Besides the two leads, the cast includes Tanvi Azmi, Mahesh Manjrekar, Anshuman Pushkar and Monica Panwar.
Disclaimer: Prepared by the Peepals newsroom from publicly available sources with AI assistance. Information is accurate to the best of our knowledge at the time of publication and may change. Images may be representative. Not professional advice. Report an error via our contact page.
By Meera Iyer, Governance & Policy EditorCovers Governance & Policy and more for Peepals Bharat. All stories by Meera Iyer
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