Lock Upp is returning for a second season, and it is arriving on Netflix. The reality show created by Ektaa Kapoor under Balaji Telefilms will premiere on the streaming platform on June 27, 2026, with fresh episodes airing from Saturday through Wednesday at 8 PM IST. The move from ALTBalaji and MX Player to Netflix marks a significant step up in distribution and visibility for the format.
The most immediately notable change is at the top. Kangana Ranaut, who hosted the first season and whose confrontational style became one of its defining features, will not be returning. In her place, the show has installed two hosts: filmmaker and choreographer Farah Khan and actor Riteish Deshmukh. The decision to replace one provocative figure with a pair reflects a shift in the show’s positioning, from adversarial spectacle to something that can accommodate both comedy and conflict.
The official teaser, released by Netflix India, introduces both hosts inside the prison setting that gives the show its visual identity. The format remains built around confinement, forced proximity and the slow erosion of public image that comes with it. Fourteen celebrity contestants will be locked inside the house for six weeks, facing daily tasks, chargesheets, punishments and weekly eliminations. The tagline this season leans into confession: to get out, you have to own up to your truth, even if it is dark.
The official cast list has not been announced, but names have been circulating in entertainment media for weeks. Uorfi Javed, whose social media profile and reality television appearances have made her one of the most discussed figures in Indian pop culture over the past two years, is among those reportedly set to enter the show. Sunita Ahuja and Archana Gautam are also among the names that have appeared in reports, though the producers have not confirmed the lineup.
Farah Khan brings a career that spans choreography, film direction and television hosting. She directed Main Hoon Na (2004), Om Shanti Om (2007) and Happy New Year (2014), and her television appearances, from judging dance reality shows to her social media presence, have given her a public persona built on bluntness and humour. Riteish Deshmukh, who has balanced a film career with consistent television and digital appearances, is among the most recognisable comic actors in the Hindi film industry. The pairing suggests the show intends to use their dynamic as a counterweight to the contestants rather than a source of unilateral authority.
The first season of Lock Upp premiered in February 2022 on ALTBalaji and MX Player with Kangana Ranaut as the sole host. It generated the kind of attention that reality shows in the Indian market thrive on: controversy, confrontation and a constant supply of clips that circulated far beyond the show’s own platform. Munawar Faruqui won the season, and his journey through the show became one of the most followed storylines in Indian reality television that year.
The move to Netflix places Lock Upp within a platform that has invested significantly in Indian unscripted content. Netflix India has expanded its reality programming in recent years, and Lock Upp represents a format with a built-in Indian audience and a premise that translates across markets. The global reach of Netflix means the show will be available in territories where its first season was not, which changes the calculus for both the production and the contestants.
Ektaa Kapoor, whose Balaji Telefilms has shaped Indian television for more than two decades, created Lock Upp as a response to the dominance of Bigg Boss in the reality confinement genre. Where Bigg Boss operates on the scale and institutional weight of Colors TV and Endemol Shine, Lock Upp has positioned itself as leaner and more confrontational. The Netflix partnership gives it a distribution infrastructure that its original platforms could not match.
Lock Upp Season 2 premieres on Netflix on June 27, 2026, with new episodes airing five nights a week. With Farah Khan and Riteish Deshmukh at the helm, the show is betting that its format can survive a change in host and a change in platform while reaching a larger audience than its predecessor. The promotional campaign, which reportedly included masked individuals dressed as prisoners appearing in public spaces, has already generated attention. The show now needs its cast to sustain it.
