Bobby Deol has revealed that the infamous Ranga-Billa kidnapping case, the same crime that now forms the basis of Prime Video’s investigative thriller Raakh, had a direct and lasting impact on his childhood. The actor’s account, shared on Raj Shamani’s podcast, adds a deeply personal Bollywood dimension to a case that terrorised Delhi in the late 1970s and has now been revived for a new generation through Ali Fazal and Sonali Bendre’s streaming debut.
According to Bobby, one of his close school friends was kidnapped by the notorious duo but managed to escape when the operation began falling apart. “He was the luckiest of all the people they kidnapped,” Bobby said. “There was confusion between Billa and Ranga. My friend was with Ranga, and the cops were zeroing in on them. Ranga ran and left my friend at a paan shop.” A shopkeeper brought the boy home. But during his captivity, Bobby’s friend was questioned about other children from the school, and he mentioned Bobby’s name.
The consequence was immediate and severe. Learning that his son’s name had surfaced in a kidnapping investigation involving two of Delhi’s most dangerous criminals, Dharmendra imposed restrictions that would define Bobby’s adolescence. “I used to come back from school and that was it,” Bobby recalled. He learned to ride a bicycle inside his house because he was not allowed outside. The curfew extended into his college years, with a strict 9 PM deadline that was not negotiable. For the son of one of Bollywood’s biggest stars, the threat was real enough to override every other consideration.
The original case dates to August 1978, when Geeta and Sanjay Chopra, the teenage children of a naval officer posted in Delhi, were kidnapped near Kamla Nagar. The siblings were found murdered, and the two perpetrators, Kuljeet Singh and Jasbir Singh, became known by their aliases Ranga and Billa. The case triggered public outrage, contributed to demands for police reform, and resulted in both men being hanged in 1982. It remains one of the most referenced criminal cases in Indian legal and cultural history.
Raakh, which began streaming on Prime Video on June 12, takes this case and builds an investigative thriller around it. Ali Fazal plays Sub-Inspector Jayprakash, the officer leading the manhunt. Sonali Bendre and Aamir Bashir round out the principal cast, with Dibyendu Bhattacharya and Rakesh Bedi in supporting roles. The series is directed by Prosit Roy and written by Anusha Nandakumar and Sandeep Saket.
The series arrives during a streaming season heavy with Indian true-crime content. Prime Video has positioned itself as the dominant platform for the genre in India, and Raakh joins a catalogue that already includes Paatal Lok and Dahaad. Producer Deepak Dhar has described the show as “original content, original story,” emphasising that while the case provides the real-world scaffolding, the narrative and characters have been reimagined for the screen rather than presented as a straightforward docudrama.
For Bobby Deol, the timing of his revelation is coincidental but telling. His brother Sunny Deol is preparing to star in Batwara 1947, their father Dharmendra continues to be one of the most recognised faces of Hindi cinema’s golden era, and Bobby himself has enjoyed a career resurgence following his performance in Animal. The Deol family’s real-life brush with one of India’s most notorious crimes adds an unexpected layer to what has already been a week dominated by Bollywood nostalgia.
Raakh is streaming now on Prime Video in Hindi across India and in more than 240 countries. The series also joins a strong week for the platform, which saw Suriya’s Karuppu land on Prime Video after its record-breaking theatrical run and Mohanlal’s Drishyam 3 scheduled to arrive on June 18.
