Kunal Khemu has appeared in four notable television and web productions — Gul Gulshan Gulfaam (1987), Abhay Season 1 (2019), Abhay Season 2 (2020), and Single Papa (2025) — making him one of Bollywood’s more selective but genuinely versatile crossover actors on the small screen.
Kunal Khemu At a Glance: The Stats Table
Before we get into the shows themselves, here’s a quick snapshot of the man behind the roles. This table is your cheat sheet — bookmark it.
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Kunal Ravi Khemu (also credited as Kunal Kemmu) |
| Born | May 25, 1983, Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir, India (needs verification — sources vary between May 24 and May 25; check Wikipedia or an official biography) |
| Age (2026) | 43 |
| Occupation | Actor, writer, director, singer-composer |
| Years Active | 1987–present |
| First TV Appearance | Gul Gulshan Gulfaam (1987), as a child artist |
| First Film (Lead) | Kalyug (2005) |
| Spouse | Soha Ali Khan (married 2015) |
| Children | 1 |
| Known TV/Web Shows | Gul Gulshan Gulfaam, Abhay (Season 1 & 2), Single Papa |
| Notable Streaming Platforms | Doordarshan, ZEE5, Netflix |
| Genres Explored on TV | Family drama, crime thriller, psychological drama, comedy-drama |
Who Is Kunal Khemu, Really?
Most people know Kunal Khemu as the funny guy from the Golmaal franchise, or the guy who somehow made zombie survival in Goa look effortless in Go Goa Gone. But long before he was a comic scene-stealer in Bollywood, he was a child actor on Indian television.
Born in Srinagar and raised in a film family — his father, Ravi Khemu, also worked in the industry — Kunal was practically destined for the camera. He started young, appearing in films like Sir (1993), Raja Hindustani (1996), and Zakhm (1998) as a child artist. But his very first screen credit wasn’t a film at all. It was television.
This is the part people forget when they search for TV shows with Kunal Khemu. His TV journey didn’t start with a flashy streaming deal. It started on Doordarshan, India’s original national broadcaster, decades before streaming even existed.
The Doordarshan Days: Gul Gulshan Gulfaam (1987)
Kunal’s first-ever screen credit was the Doordarshan series Gul Gulshan Gulfaam, directed by Ved Rahi. He was just a child when this aired, and while detailed episode-by-episode records of his specific role are hard to track down this many decades later, this show remains the true starting point of his on-screen career — years before Bollywood came calling.
Why this matters for anyone researching TV shows with Kunal Khemu: it shows that his relationship with the small screen isn’t new or opportunistic. He didn’t jump onto OTT platforms because movie offers dried up. He literally began his career on television, spent two decades building a film career, and then came right back to the small screen once streaming platforms made it a genuinely exciting space for serious actors.
The Complete List of TV Shows With Kunal Khemu
Here’s the full, verified list, organized chronologically. This table is the heart of this article, so keep it handy if you’re planning a watch list.
| Show Name | Year | Platform | Genre | Role |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gul Gulshan Gulfaam | 1987 | Doordarshan | Family Drama | Child Artist |
| Abhay (Season 1) | 2019 | ZEE5 | Crime Thriller | SP Abhay Pratap Singh |
| Abhay (Season 2) | 2020 | ZEE5 | Crime Thriller | SP Abhay Pratap Singh |
| Single Papa | 2025 | Netflix | Comedy-Drama | Gaurav Gehlot |
Four shows across four decades. That’s not a typo — it genuinely spans from the 1980s to the 2020s, which is part of what makes his career such an interesting case study for anyone tracking Bollywood’s shift from broadcast television to streaming.
Let’s break each one down properly.
1. Abhay (2019) — His Digital Debut
When people talk about TV shows with Kunal Khemu, this is usually the first one that comes up, and for good reason. Abhay marked Kunal’s official entry into the world of web series, and he didn’t play it safe.
He stars as SP Abhay Pratap Singh, a police officer whose mind works uncomfortably like a criminal’s. That’s the whole hook of the show — Abhay solves disturbing crimes by thinking exactly like the people who commit them, which means the series doesn’t shy away from dark, unsettling territory. Each arc tackles a different, often gruesome case, with Abhay walking a thin line between justice and obsession.
He’s joined by Sandeepa Dhar as Inspector Komal and Elnaaz Norouzi as Officer Natasha, with the show produced by veteran TV producer B. P. Singh under Fiction Factory Productions, and directed by Ken Ghosh. The series blends psychological drama with hard-edged crime procedural beats, and it marked the digital debut of a Bollywood actor stepping into genuinely dark territory for the first time.
Expert insight: What made Abhay stand out in 2019’s crowded thriller space wasn’t the crime-of-the-week format — Indian television already had plenty of that. It was Kunal’s willingness to play someone genuinely unsettling. He wasn’t the wisecracking comic relief here. He was intense, morally grey, and occasionally frightening, which was a real risk for an actor known mostly for comedy.
2. Abhay 2 (2020) — Doubling Down on Darkness
The second season of Abhay built directly on the success of the first, bringing Kunal back as SP Abhay Pratap Singh for another round of psychologically twisted cases. If Season 1 was Kunal testing the waters of serious, dark television, Season 2 was him diving in headfirst.
The show retained its ZEE5 home and continued exploring crimes that blur the line between investigator and criminal mindset. For fans who discovered TV shows with Kunal Khemu through this franchise, Season 2 is often considered the more confident, more polished version of the format.
3. Single Papa (2025) — The Netflix Comeback
This is the one everyone’s been talking about lately, and it’s arguably Kunal’s most acclaimed television work to date. Single Papa premiered on Netflix and follows Gaurav Gehlot, a newly divorced “man-child” who shocks everyone around him by deciding to adopt a baby.
Created by Ishita Moitra and Neeraj Udhwani, the show is a tonal 180 from Abhay. Instead of grim crime drama, it’s a warm, funny, occasionally chaotic family comedy-drama about growing up emotionally, even when you’re already an adult. Kunal plays Gaurav as a spoiled, entitled man whose father runs a couple of wine shops in Gurugram — and watching him fumble his way toward becoming a responsible parent is where the show finds its heart.
The supporting cast includes Prajakta Koli, Manoj Pahwa, Ankur Rathee, Neha Dhupia, and Isha Talwar, and viewer reception has been notably strong, with many calling it Kunal’s best television performance yet.
Why Single Papa matters: It proves Kunal Khemu isn’t a one-genre television actor. He can carry a grim psychological thriller and a light, emotionally rich comedy-drama with equal conviction. That range is rare, and it’s exactly why searches for TV shows with Kunal Khemu have spiked since this show dropped.
Best TV Shows With Kunal Khemu, Ranked
We built a simple, transparent ranking approach for this list: we weighed public reception, cultural buzz, and how much the role stretched Kunal as a performer. Here’s how the four shows stack up, in our own editorial judgment.
| Rank | Show | Why It Ranks Here |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Single Papa (2025) | Strongest reviews, biggest platform reach, most acclaimed performance |
| 2 | Abhay (2019) | Bold genre pivot, strong debut, memorable character |
| 3 | Abhay 2 (2020) | Solid follow-up, slightly less buzz than the original season |
| 4 | Gul Gulshan Gulfaam (1987) | Historically important but limited surviving records of his specific role |
Kunal Khemu’s Journey From Child Actor to OTT Star
Here’s the thing about TV shows with Kunal Khemu — they map almost perfectly onto the biggest shifts in Indian entertainment itself.
- 1987: Indian television is dominated by state broadcaster Doordarshan. Kunal appears as a child actor in Gul Gulshan Gulfaam.
- 1993–2005: He spends over a decade in Bollywood as a child artist, then transitions to lead roles in films like Kalyug.
- 2005–2018: Kunal builds a strong Bollywood career, becoming known for comedy (the Golmaal franchise) and cult favorites (Go Goa Gone).
- 2019: Streaming platforms explode across India. Kunal makes his web series debut with Abhay, one of the earlier prestige crime dramas on Indian OTT.
- 2020: Abhay 2 releases as the pandemic accelerates OTT viewership across the country.
- 2025: Kunal returns to television with Single Papa on Netflix, a global platform, showing just how far his small-screen work has traveled in under four decades.
This timeline is genuinely one of the better case studies in how a single actor’s career can trace the evolution of an entire industry — from state-run broadcast television to global streaming giants.
What Makes Kunal Khemu’s TV Shows Different From His Movies
If you’ve watched his films first, his TV work might genuinely surprise you. Here’s a simple side-by-side.
| Aspect | Kunal Khemu in Movies | Kunal Khemu in TV Shows |
|---|---|---|
| Typical Genre | Comedy, action-comedy | Crime thriller, family drama |
| Tone | Light, quick-paced | Slower-burn, character-driven |
| Screen Time | 2–3 hours, one story | Multiple hours, layered arcs |
| Character Depth | Often comic or ensemble roles | Lead, psychologically complex roles |
| Notable Examples | Golmaal series, Go Goa Gone, Lootcase | Abhay, Single Papa |
The pattern is clear: movies let him be funny and fast; television lets him be slow, deliberate, and emotionally layered. That’s not a coincidence — longer formats simply give actors more room to build a character over time, and Kunal seems to genuinely enjoy that extra runway. It’s a big part of why his Kunal Khemu web series roles feel so different from anything he’s done on the big screen.
Where to Watch TV Shows With Kunal Khemu in 2026
Streaming availability changes often, so treat this as a general starting point rather than a permanent guide — always double-check the platform’s current library before settling in with your snacks.
| Show | Streaming Platform (as reported) | Subscription Needed |
|---|---|---|
| Gul Gulshan Gulfaam | Limited availability; originally aired on Doordarshan | Varies |
| Abhay (Season 1 & 2) | ZEE5 | Yes |
| Single Papa | Netflix | Yes |
Recognition and Reception Tied to His TV Work
While Kunal’s television resume is compact, it hasn’t gone unnoticed by critics and viewers. Single Papa in particular has generated buzz for being one of his most-loved performances across any medium, with many reviewers specifically praising his comic timing paired with genuine emotional depth — something not every “funny guy” actor manages to pull off convincingly.
Kunal Khemu vs Other Bollywood Actors Who Moved to OTT
To understand why TV shows with Kunal Khemu feel special, it helps to compare his approach to other Bollywood actors who made similar TV/OTT transitions.
| Actor | Known Film Genre | OTT/TV Pivot | Genre on OTT |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kunal Khemu | Comedy | Abhay, Single Papa | Crime thriller AND family comedy-drama |
| Pankaj Tripathi | Character actor | Mirzapur | Crime drama |
| Radhika Apte | Drama/thriller films | Multiple anthology series | Thriller, drama |
| Manoj Bajpayee | Drama | The Family Man | Action-thriller |
What sets Kunal apart is the genre-jump within his own TV resume. Most actors pick one lane on OTT and stay there. Kunal went from a grim police procedural to a heartfelt family comedy without missing a beat, which is a genuinely rare kind of range for a Kunal Khemu OTT career this compact.
Common Myths About Kunal Khemu’s TV Career
Let’s clear up a few misconceptions floating around search results and forums.
Myth 1: He’s only ever done web series, never “real” TV. Not true. His very first credit, Gul Gulshan Gulfaam, was traditional broadcast television on Doordarshan back in 1987.
Myth 2: Abhay and Single Papa are his only notable roles, period. Not quite accurate — while these are his most visible recent projects, his television story technically begins decades earlier, even if detailed records from that era are thin.
Myth 3: He abandoned television for movies and never came back. He actually did the opposite. After a long, successful film career, he deliberately returned to television and web formats with Abhay, and then again with Single Papa, showing a real, sustained interest in the medium rather than a one-off experiment.
Why Fans Keep Searching for TV Shows With Kunal Khemu
There’s a simple reason this topic keeps trending: Kunal Khemu doesn’t oversaturate. He doesn’t sign ten shows a year. When he picks a project, especially for television, it tends to be distinctive — either tonally daring like Abhay, or emotionally rich like Single Papa. That scarcity actually works in his favor. Every new Kunal Khemu web series announcement becomes a genuine event rather than background noise, and that’s a rare thing to say about any actor working across both film and television today.
How TV Shows With Kunal Khemu Reflect India’s Streaming Boom
It’s worth zooming out for a second, because TV shows with Kunal Khemu aren’t just a personal career story — they’re also a neat little window into how Indian audiences watch television now compared to a few decades ago.
Back in 1987, when Gul Gulshan Gulfaam aired, there was essentially one channel that mattered: Doordarshan. Families gathered around a single television set at a fixed broadcast time, and there was no rewind, no binge-watching, and definitely no algorithm recommending what to watch next. Fast forward to 2019, and Abhay arrived on ZEE5, a platform built entirely around on-demand viewing, where audiences could watch an entire season in one sitting if they wanted to.
By the time Single Papa landed on Netflix in 2025, the shift was complete. A show starring an Indian actor was now sitting on a platform available to subscribers across the globe, competing for attention against shows from dozens of other countries. That’s an enormous leap in just under four decades, and Kunal Khemu happens to have a genuine credit at nearly every major stop along that timeline.
This context matters because it explains part of why interest in TV shows with Kunal Khemu keeps growing rather than fading, and why a well-organized, up-to-date list of TV shows with Kunal Khemu is genuinely useful to have in one place. As streaming libraries expand and international audiences discover Hindi-language content more easily, older or lesser-known credits like Abhay often get a second wave of attention from viewers who are only just now exploring Indian OTT content for the first time.
Should You Start With Abhay or Single Papa?
If you’re new to Kunal Khemu’s television work and trying to decide where to start, here’s a simple way to think about it.
- Start with Single Papa if you want something warm, funny, and easy to recommend to family or friends who aren’t necessarily crime-thriller fans.
- Start with Abhay if you enjoy tense, morally complicated police dramas and don’t mind darker themes and slower-burn storytelling.
A Quick Note on Kunal Khemu’s Writing and Behind-the-Camera Work
While this article focuses specifically on TV shows with Kunal Khemu as an on-screen actor, it’s worth noting that he’s also worked behind the camera in his broader career, including writing credits and a foray into film direction. That side of his career sits outside the scope of a television-focused breakdown like this one, but it does help explain why his choices in front of the camera — especially on TV — tend to feel so deliberate. An actor who also writes and directs is usually thinking hard about character construction, and that shows in performances like Abhay Pratap Singh and Gaurav Gehlot.
Conclusion: The Real Story Behind TV Shows With Kunal Khemu
Here’s the honest takeaway: Kunal Khemu’s television career is small in number but massive in range. Four shows, four decades, and two completely different tones — from a 1980s Doordarshan family drama, to a dark 2019 crime thriller, to a warm 2025 Netflix comedy-drama. Most actors need dozens of TV credits to prove that kind of versatility. Kunal did it in four.
If you’re building a watch list, start with Single Papa for warmth and humor, then move to Abhay if you’re in the mood for something considerably darker. Either way, you’re watching an actor who treats television not as a backup plan, but as a genuine creative outlet — and that’s really the whole story behind TV shows with Kunal Khemu.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What are all the TV shows with Kunal Khemu?
His confirmed television and web credits are Gul Gulshan Gulfaam (1987), Abhay Season 1 (2019), Abhay Season 2 (2020), and Single Papa (2025).
2. Is Abhay Kunal Khemu’s first web series?
Yes. Abhay marked his official digital debut in 2019, even though his very first screen credit overall was the 1987 TV show Gul Gulshan Gulfaam.
3. Where can I watch Single Papa?
Single Papa is available on Netflix as of this writing, though it’s always smart to confirm current availability directly on the platform.
4. Is Single Papa a comedy or a drama?
It’s best described as a comedy-drama. It leans into humor while still handling genuinely emotional themes like divorce, parenting, and personal growth.
5. Does Kunal Khemu have a new TV show coming in 2026?
As of this writing, there’s no confirmed new television or web series announcement for Kunal Khemu specifically dated to 2026; his most recent work remains 2025’s Single Papa. Always check official entertainment news outlets for the latest announcements, since these things can change quickly.
6. Is Abhay based on a true story?
Abhay isn’t a direct true-crime adaptation. It’s a fictional psychological crime thriller, though the show draws on the general tone and structure of true-crime-inspired procedural dramas popular in Indian television.
7. Why did Kunal Khemu wait so long to do more television after Abhay?
There’s no single confirmed reason on record, but industry patterns suggest actors with strong film careers often treat television and web projects selectively, waiting for scripts that genuinely excite them rather than working continuously across both mediums.
8. Are TV shows with Kunal Khemu suitable for family viewing?
It depends on the show. Single Papa is largely family-friendly, with light comedy and heartfelt themes, while Abhay is a darker crime thriller better suited to adult viewers due to its intense and sometimes disturbing subject matter.
9. Does Kunal Khemu sing in any of his TV shows?
There’s no widely confirmed report of Kunal Khemu contributing as a singer specifically within Abhay or Single Papa; his singing and composing work has mostly been associated with his film projects. This detail is worth double-checking against official soundtrack credits if it matters for your research.
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