Every once in a while, a show arrives that isn’t just “content” for your watchlist – it’s a crash course in how a country was shaped. Kesariya@100 is exactly that kind of series. Released on 12 December 2025, this Hindi docudrama web series traces 100 years of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) – from one man’s idea in Nagpur to a nationwide volunteer movement that has been part of India’s social and political landscape for a century.
Instead of squeezing everything into a single film, Kesariya@100 web series breaks this journey into seven focused episodes. Each chapter looks at a different phase, personality or turning point – guided throughout by the calm, familiar presence of Dr. Nitish Bharadwaj, who anchors the series and walks you through archival footage, personal accounts and re-created moments.
From here on, if you want to go straight to the show, you can dive into all episodes of the Kesariya@100 web series and start from Episode 1: A Century in Retrospect.
What Is Kesariya@100 Web Series About?
At its base, Kesariya@100 builds a long-form, episodic portrait of a volunteer organisation that grew, adapted, and shaped India across a hundred years.
The series starts with Dr Keshav Baliram Hedgewar’s founding vision in Nagpur and moves through key eras: pre-independence mobilisation, post-independence suspicion and bans, social work during crises, and ideology debates that start sharp, present-day conversations in homes nationwide.
The tone is documentary-first. You get:
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Historical context, dates and locations
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Archival photographs and documents
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On-ground stories from places like Mohite Wada in Nagpur, where the early meetings took shape
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Recreated sequences that help you visualise turning points most of us have only read about in passing
The idea is not to rush. Each episode takes a slice of history and sits with it – how the organisation was built, how it reacted to national crises, and how its members see their own journey.
Episodes And Story Structure: Seven Chapters, One Century
Season 1 of Kesariya@100 has 7 episodes, each around 23–27 minutes long, all released together on 12 December 2025 so you can watch them at your own pace.
A few of the key episodes:
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E1 – A Century in Retrospect
Dr Nitish Bharadwaj sets the frame, revisiting Hedgewar’s founding vision and the early years in Nagpur. It’s a “big-picture” entry point that shows how one idea slowly turned into a network of shakhas and volunteers. -
E2 – Tracing the Roots of India’s Ideals
This episode looks at the origins of the RSS, its century-long impact as portrayed in the series, and how events like the Mahakumbh and debates around the two-nation theory are woven into that story. -
E4 – Grim Chapters from India’s History
Here, the show moves into more turbulent territory – bans, accusations and the way leadership figures such as M. S. Golwalkar are portrayed navigating those years. -
E5 – Ideals Above Infamy
This chapter spotlights Golwalkar again, including his much-discussed debate with Acharya Vinoba Bhave and the negative press that followed, focusing on how the series presents his personal commitment to certain ideals. -
E7 – Choosing Sacrifice over Safety
The finale moves towards Srinagar and Shyama Prasad Mukherjee’s opposition to Article 370, showing how the RSS as an institution is depicted facing political violence and loss.
If you like following a chronological arc, Kesariya@100 is structured to be watched from start to finish like a long documentary film broken into well-defined episodes.
And if this format works for you, it’s worth browsing more Hindi web series that take a similarly layered, episodic approach to storytelling.
Cast, Host And Creative Vision
In a series like this, your guide matters as much as the material. Kesariya@100 is anchored by Dr Nitish Bharadwaj, credited as host across the show pages.
His role isn’t just to read voice-overs. He appears on screen, visits key locations, and often bridges the gap between dense historical detail and everyday viewers. The series leans on:
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A single, consistent host (instead of shifting narrators)
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Interviews, first-person accounts and expert voices
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A visual style that blends documentary, history and drama elements – exactly how the genre mix is listed on the official show page
If you enjoy docudramas that put one strong presence at the centre and let them walk you through the material, this format will feel instantly familiar. You’ll also find similar long-form storytelling across our drama web series line-up.
What Inspired Kesariya@100?
The obvious trigger is in the title itself: a hundred years. As the RSS reached its centenary, there was an opportunity to put its story into one structured, watchable form – not just as a political headline, but as a timeline of people, decisions, crises and responses.
According to coverage around the announcement, Kesariya@100 was conceived as a way to chronicle the evolution of the RSS – from Hedgewar’s original concept to its role in community mobilisation, education initiatives and relief work during various national emergencies.
The series uses:
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Archival footage to show how events were recorded at the time
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Expert perspectives to unpack context and nuance
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First-person testimonies for lived experience
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Cinematic recreations when a story needs more visual texture than a photograph can provide
If you’ve ever wished you could go beyond social media opinions and simply see a long, uninterrupted narrative of this institution’s version of its own history, Kesariya@100 web series is built to serve that specific curiosity.
Who Will Kesariya@100 Suit Best?
Because of its subject, Kesariya@100 will naturally draw viewers who already follow Indian politics, ideology and modern history. But the format makes it accessible to more than just policy buffs.
This series is likely to work well for:
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Students and exam aspirants who prefer watching a structured narrative parallel to their reading
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Parents and older viewers who have lived through some of these decades and want to revisit them with more context
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Young viewers who mostly know “RSS” as a news headline and want to understand how it is presented in a long-form story
With a U/A 13+ rating, it’s largely family-viewing friendly, though the themes inevitably cover violence, bans, assassinations and political conflict as portrayed within the series.
If you’re generally drawn to non-fiction storytelling, we’d also point you to other web series that mix real events with episodic narrative – a nice way to turn “learning” into a weekend binge.
How To Watch Kesariya@100 On ZEE5
All 7 episodes of Kesariya@100 are now streaming as a ZEE5 Original. Here’s the simple checklist:
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Where to watch: Kesariya@100 streams exclusively on ZEE5 as a Hindi documentary–history–drama web series.
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Language: Hindi audio, with English subtitles mentioned on multiple episode pages.
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Runtime: Around 23–27 minutes per episode
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Best path: Open the Kesariya@100 web series page, start from Episode 1 and let it auto-play.
If you prefer to discover more titles in a similar zone once you’re done, a quick scroll through latest web series in Hindi will give you more non-fiction and drama picks to add to your queue.
Why Kesariya@100 Deserves A Spot On Your Watchlist
You don’t have to agree with every perspective in Kesariya@100 to find it compelling. The point of the series is to give you a front-row seat to how one institution tells its own 100-year story – complete with founding ideals, internal debates, controversies and moments of sacrifice, all stitched into an episodic narrative.
If you’ve ever paused on a headline and thought, “I wish I could just watch the whole story from the beginning,” this is that chance.
Bio of Author: Gayatri Tiwari is an experienced digital strategist and entertainment writer, bringing 20+ years of content expertise to one of India’s largest OTT platforms. She blends industry insight with a passion for cinema to deliver engaging, trustworthy perspectives on movies, TV shows and web series.
