Special Ops, an espionage thriller TV Series
(comprising 8 episodes) follows a relentless R&AW analyst Himmat Singh
(played by Kay Kay Menon) in his mission to end the 19 year-long man-hunt of the
terrorist mastermind, who he believes, is the 6th man behind the
2001 Parliament attack, 26/11 Mumbai attacks and another impending high-profile
attack.
The unique narrative structure revolves around an
internal audit inquiry in which Himmat Singh (Menon) is asked to explain how
and why Rs.28 crores were spent as ‘Miscellaneous’ expenses by his Middle East
desk in the last 11 years. The questions by the audit committee are answered through
flashbacks, narrating the back-stories of his five agents deployed in five
different middle east countries and all of them with one common mission: to
find and kill the 6th invisible terrorist.
The show’s central idea and the protagonist’s
(Menon’s) motivations are heavily inspired by the acclaimed American spy
thriller TV show: Tom Clancy’s JACK RYAN (Season 1), where the titular CIA analyst
finds his mission to stop an alleged terror attack on the U.S. soil by an
unidentified terrorist mastermind called Suleiman. Besides, the work-life-balance aspect of the protagonist draws its roots from another superior
Indian spy thriller THE FAMILY MAN (starring Manoj Bajpai).
Therefore, comparing Special Ops with both these shows
is obligatory to review. And here I felt that the show’s filmmaking aspects
especially the (erratic) pacing, (hit-and-miss) writing, (bland) cinematography,
(lackluster) editing and (the consequently compromised) entertainment quotient
of Special Ops were relatively subpar. A notable exception was Kay Kay Menon’s
performance, which was almost at par with Manoj Bajpai’s Srikanth Bajpai in ‘The
Family Man’’ and certainly a few notches better than John Krasinski’s Jack
Ryan.
I also felt that the backstories of the five agents,
except probably Farooq Ali’s character (sincerely played by Karan Tacker),
could have been more engaging. Despite getting enough screen time, their
characters seemed half-baked, which adversely affected their performances. The
hand-combat action scenes involving these agents, particularly an agent’s
wedding fight scene with the terrorist, were poorly choreographed and even
inferior to Neeraj Pandey’s own spy film BABY. Co-directed by Neeraj Pandey (A Wednesday,
Special 26, Baby) and Shivam Nair (Baby’s Spinoff ‘Naam Shabana’), Special Ops
fares somewhere between the cinematic elegance of BABY and the insipid
mediocrity of NAAM SHABANA.
Moreover, considering the terrorist mastermind’s
identity being the show’s basic premise and its intrinsic purpose, however, the
final mystery revelation was a somewhat underwhelming experience for this
reviewer. ‘Jack Ryan’ had a similar premise where the antagonist’s identity was
very smartly revealed in the Pilot episode itself. In ‘The Family Man’, similar
suspense unfolds in the 6th episode and the unexpected shock flabbergasted me. Despite
being premature, both these plot twists had more impact than the climactic
revelation of Special Ops.
Notwithstanding all these shortcomings, there are bona
fide reasons to watch this show. First and foremost, it’s the impressive act of
Kay Kay Menon which alone makes Special Ops a watchable enterprise. He excels
in practically every scene. His nuanced dialogue delivery in the superbly
directed interrogation scene with Ajmal Kasab became my eventual favorite and
shows why Kay Kay Menon is truly one of the most gifted actors in India.
Besides Kay Kay Menon, there were some strong supporting
performances given by Vinay Pathak (as a Delhi Police Constable), Divya Dutta (as
a suicide bomber), Sharad Kelkar (as Kay Kay Menon’s senior), Parmeet Sethi &
KP Mukherji (as R&AW audit committee members). Some of the most amusing lines
of the show are shared between Kay Kay Menon and the two audit committee
members. For instance, when KP Mukherji tells Parmeet Sethi “Mujhe aisa kyun
lag raha hai ki yeh aadmi hum logon ko bahut torture karne waala hai” made me
chuckle.
I was particularly impressed by Gautami Kapoor’s (as
Kay Kay Menon’s wife) and Kay Kay Menon’s onscreen chemistry as a regular middle-aged
couple and their day-to-day camaraderie. They get some of the most endearing
scenes together especially in the last episode where Kay Kay Menon thanks her
for being the only one to have persistently trusted his gut feeling for 19
years.
Furthermore, the elaborate retelling and recreation of
the 2001 Parliament Attack segment were masterfully executed. I also think to name each episode after a Hindi classic movie was innovative as the movie
name gave us a clue about the plot of that episode.
Being a fan of both Kay Kay Menon & Neeraj Pandey
and the genre, I really enjoyed binge-watching Special Ops. The show is a royal
treat for Kay Kay Menon fans but can’t be appraised as Neeraj Pandey’s best
work. Even so, it will conveniently manage to keep you entertained and engaged
all through.
My Verdict: 7/10
Nice review..have watched kota factory before...now will watch this..very good review mentioning run time and highlighing theme of slow village life.. -MM
ReplyDeleteWoooh...!!
ReplyDeleteNow that's the stuff I was searching for.. thanks
Thanks. Tell me which ones you liked.
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