The upcoming ZEE5 Original series Kailasapuram has been much awaited, after the success of the Amala Akkineni-starrer High Priestess. Kailasapuram, just like its name, is based on true events happening in this small township in Vishakapatnam. Before you sit down to binge-watch the seven-episode series, we walk you through its lead characters.

Meet Shiva Shanker, a character played by actor Mohit Pedada. The ‘hero’ of Kailasapuram and the victim of substance addiction. Shiva is the leader, wherever he goes people follow him. An intermediate student, Shiva gets into the dirty web of drug peddling. Not by choice, he does it for pocket money that pays well enough to maintain his image of a hero. He is rebellious and strong but he also turns caring with time.

Meet Shailaja Rama, played by actor Snehal Kamat. The only girl in the all-boys gang. She drinks and smokes without any fear or hesitation. She even deals in the selling of banned substances. She lives her life, truly, on the edge and unabashedly. Shailaja also happens to be Shiva’s girlfriend and the daughter of a local prostitute. Despite being forced into trafficking by her mother, Shailaja tries to live life to the fullest and on her own terms.

Raju (played by Palla Gautham Kalyan) is the oldest of the lot. Wisest? Not so much. He completed his education in the village and moved to work at the local petrol station. Because that’s what everyone around him has been doing. Alcohol and drugs aren’t new to Raju but peddling is. He is the reason Shiva first had a whiff of ganja and then, as they say, the rest is history.

Suresh, played by actor Vicky Varma Namburi, looks up to Shiva. He started doing things that he didn’t enjoy, like smoking ganja, because he wanted to be in Shiva’s gang. The reason is that he felt the need to follow Shiva’s footsteps at all times. Suresh proudly says he isn’t interested in such things and will quit whenever he feels like it. Is that really the reality? We don’t think so!

Seenu is the naive and the innocent one in the gang. The youngest member, he has one thing in his mind — earning a better life for his mother. Played by Palakurthi Vamsi Krishna, he understands the darkness of Kailasapuram and tries to change things for better. But ‘they’ won’t let him leave the mess and start afresh.

What happens to this bunch of intermediate students trapped in the darkness of an old town? Watch the story unfold on June 5, 2019 on ZEE5. In the meantime, check out Ekkadiki Ee Parugu on ZEE5.