The 2020 original, Special Ops, remains the benchmark even now among espionage dramas, with several subsequent series, including reality-based shows of this genre, unable to match its passion, drama and success. Special Ops 1.5, the brief follow-up, was welcomed with equal fervor. And now the time for Special Ops 2 is finally here, with its streaming date fixed for July 11.
The Friday Storytellers’ production had a grand launch with the cast and crew present in full force at the Grand Hyatt in Mumbai on June 16. The media was given ‘Special Task Force’ badges and the stage was transformed into a kind of digital domain, as the series revolves around Cyber Crime this time.
There was an element of mystery on why key cast members Parmeet Sethi, Kaliprasad Mukherjee and Dalip Tahil, who were all present, were not summoned on stage, but the principal players—Kay Kay Menon, a.k.a. Himmat Singh, the iconic ace agent in the series, Vinay Pathak, Saiyami Kher, Karan Tacker, new entrants Muzammil Ibrahim and Tahir Raj Bhasin were very much present alongside creator-writer-director Neeraj Pandey and co-director Shivam Nair, and Sushant Sreeram, Head of Marketing, Jio Hotstar.
Main ‘antagonist’ Tahir Raj Bhasin stated that it was great fun enacting a villain who was not into guns and action but used the cyber format to intimidate and challenge India.
As the cast, new and old, hailed Neeraj Pandey for his script that left them literally with not much to think in terms of execution but just follow his and co-director Shivam Nair’s brief. Shivam in turn also hailed Neeraj’s writing.
Karan spotlighted the unique quality of Neeraj’s writing even more. “There will be three or four lines, a full-stop, and then ‘Action’ written in capital letters followed by an exclamation mark. Cut to, you are rehearsing for eight days and shooting one action piece for two days!! Neeraj-sir just makes everything so easy and it’s been a lot of fun shooting this one!”
Saiyami thanked Neeraj for the changed perception about her in the industry, literally holding her role in the series from five years ago as the reason why she was given meaty characters like in the Telugu Highway (a cop), Ghoomer (cricketer) and Agni (firefighter) later.
She said, “Neeraj-sir is a man of very few words, but the words he speaks are enough, for he knows what to get out of his actors. The way he has shown me from the first season has changed the way people think of me as an actor! The only complaint I have against him is that I don’t get to work with Kay Kay-sir because he shoots in India while I am abroad in fancy locations! So I hope that I will get to work with him in the next seasons and also with Shivam-sir, who also handles work in India!”
Kay Kay Menon highlighted the fact that when the first season was released, no one knew that it would become so big. “No one is so narcissistic!” he quipped.
Vinay Pathak, in his element, mock-complained that while he remains a “havaldar” (constable) all through these seasons, based very much in Delhi, the youngsters (Saiyami, Karan and Muzammil) get to go to exotic foreign locations, even if they had to get up at 3 a.m. in minus 5 degrees Celsius. “They are complaining about -5 degrees. But we were shooting in 41 degrees over here!” he joked.
Recalling that he was first approached years ago by old friend Shivam in Bihari language (as per their old customary habit), he said that when Neeraj called him a week later, it was to tell him that his character would be killed in season 1 itself. “Neeraj-sir has given me jeevan-daan (the gift of life) and I am still there in the third season! It’s just that I have not been promoted and I don’t mind that at all, as long as I am a part of more seasons!”
The series will be streaming on Jio Hotstar. Sushant Sreeram, Head of Marketing, gave newsindiatimes the happy news that unlike some series on the platform, Special Ops 2 will be streamed with all episodes at one go, and not “serialized” like some other shows of theirs. Asked also why the latter was done in some series, he gave me a complex and unconvincing reply, and as he was in an obvious hurry, I did not prod more!
Neeraj, who had told me early last year that Special Ops 2 would be readied by September 2024, also let on that it was the Jio and Hotstar merger that was the cause of the almost year-long delay in telecast.
But a good thing is a good thing! Special Ops 2, if the trailer is any indication, is set to reach towering standards in scale and entertainment. And Friday Storytellers (Neeraj’s production company with Shital Bhatia) is set to prove yet again that they are ace storytellers on every day of the week and not just on Fridays!
(Used under special arrangement with NIT)
