New Delhi: Singer-rapper King has made his acting debut with Prime Video’s new musical crime drama, Lukkhe, which is available for streaming from 8 May. He plays MC Badnaam, an upcoming rapper caught in a story of music, rivalry, drugs, and ambition in Punjab.
But Lukkhe is not treating King like a musician who has simply been handed a role. He is the engine of the show. King has also written, composed and sung four songs for the soundtrack. The Hollywood Reporter India described the rapper’s contributions to the series as a “substantial, central turn” in a series about friendship, rap, rivalry and drugs.
The role is also close to where he comes from. King is not playing a cop, banker, or someone completely removed from the world that made him famous. He plays an upcoming rapper, and the show knowingly leverages his familiarity with that world. At the trailer launch, he said that MC Badnaam’s “hunger and need to be heard” felt real to him as an artist.
“It’s something I connect with as an artist. Bringing music into his journey made the experience even more personal,” King added.
Directed by Himank Gaur, Lukkhe stars Raashii Khanna, King, Palak Tiwari, Lakshvir Singh Saran, Nakul Roshan Sahdev, Kritika Bharadwaj, Shivankit Parihar, Yograj Singh, Akarsh Khurana and Ayesha Raza. The eight-episode series is produced by Vipul D Shah and Rajesh Bahl.
According to Prime Video’s synopsis, Lukkhe follows Lucky, a sportsman, and Sanober, a musician, whose romance is caught between police officer Gurbani and MC Badnaam. The platform describes the show as an “adrenaline-filled, musical drama set in the beating heart of Punjab.”
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A career change
King, whose real name is Arpan Singh Chandel, told THR India that before Lukkhe, he had no idea about the process actors go through, “from auditions to formal training”.
“My own journey in music has been very different,” he said.
Musicians becoming actors is not new in Punjab. Diljit Dosanjh built one of the clearest modern templates, moving from Punjabi music and cinema to Hindi films, where he made his Bollywood debut with Udta Punjab in 2016, and later played the lead in Netflix’s Amar Singh Chamkila (2024).
But King’s debut comes from a rap-driven place. Lukkhe is built around music, and his own identity as a rapper is part of the pitch. He is not only acting in the series, or just providing the songs as a playback singer. He is doing both.
Instead, Lukkhe gives King a screen debut that does not ask him to leave the rapper behind.
(Edited by Insha Jalil Waziri)