Having dealt with police officers and espionage agents, writer-director Neeraj Pandey now shifts focus to India’s customs officers for a gripping narration on contraband and protocols followed by customs officers.

To be sure, this time, instead of glorifying all except a couple of cops and espionage officers, he shows how quite a few customs folks are swayed by easy temptations and fall prey to the lure of illegal lucre because of their modest incomes. One by one, they are entrapped in the ‘smuggler’s web’ of the title (Taskaree refers to smuggling) and so, an upright officer, Prakash Kumar (Anurag Sinha) is appointed Assistant Commissioner and given a free hand to curb the menace.

The first thing Prakash does is to ensure that the corrupt are transferred en masse to curtail the usual popats (smuggled goods carriers) and stultify their dubious missions. The second item on his agenda is to reinstall honest officers who have been suspended for one reason or another, usually for not following the rulebook.

Prakash thus brings Arjun Meena (Emraan Hashmi) back to lead an intrepid bunch of similar incorruptible officers that include Mitali (Amruta Khanvilkar), a single mother, Ravindra (Nandish Sandhu), who has a legacy of corrupt officers as his family and is disgusted enough to live away from them all, Nancy (Srilata Nair), rookie Kulvir (Akash Ayyar), whose character provides elements of humor, and more. 

The team is told that they will be given a free hand and also that their major target is Bada Chowdhary (Sharad Kelkar), who operates a mega-smuggling syndicate from Lake Como in Italy, and associates in Al Deira and other countries. Arjun also enlists airhostess Priya (Zoya Afroz), a feisty girl, to honeytrap (and more) a Choudhary associate, when it is found that she is involved in helping the smugglers, and she can be arrested for it. 

From here, the game becomes more dangerous than ever. Bada Choudhary and his associates suffer a massive loss because of a tactical strategy by Arjun and his team, but will Bada Choudhary take all this lying down? What will be his next move? 

Neeraj Pandey has long showcased his mastery at such genres, not only on the small screen but also in his movies (Baby, Naam Shabana, Aiyaary) as he focuses on different noble services of the nation. 

With the basic pattern of a thriller mounted with meticulous detailing of the working styles, issues, triumphs and possible pitfalls of these unsaid heroes and their environment, as well as the challenges they face daily, it all adds up to an unusual experience of a taut thriller. Yes, it does follow a template, but it is still novel, just like The Freelancer and Special Ops 1.5 after the gloriously trendsetting Special Ops. And that last masterly series drew a lot from Aiyaary, which was a commercial failure but remains a quasi-masterpiece with repeat value.

Neeraj’s co-writer Vipul K. Rawal also deserves due credit, and the editing by Neeraj regular Kathikuloth Praveen is exemplary in its pacing that gives all sequences due importance as well. So wherever the pace should necessarily slow down, the crackerjack pace does deviate from its edge-of-the seat normalcy.

DOPs Sudhir Palsane, Parth Navle and Arvind Singh help magnificently in upping the technical finesse of the seven-episode series, and, as always, the direction is top-class, with co-directors Raghav M. Jairath and B.A. Fida in perfectly seamless sync with Neeraj. The background score by Advait Nemlekar is extraordinary and innovative even if—my opinion of course—a tad overused.

Emraan Hashmi, hellbent now on showcasing his range (Ground Zero, Haq, They Call Him OG) beyond romances with kisses and dark dramas, gets into the skin of Arjun Meena and is absolutely endearing, especially when he shows his feelings for Priya. Masterly performances come from Nandish Sandhu as Ravindra and from Anurag Sinha as Prakash. The actor who plays the officer who brings in Prakash is also very good. 

Sharad Kelkar is superb as the coolly ruthless Bada Chowdhary, and Akash Ayyar delightful as the rookie. Pradeep Bhaskar and Shubham Kumar as the two rotten eggs also leave a distinct impression. All the other actors make a mark, especially Hemant Kher as the corrupt officer. 

This is yet another Neeraj epic loaded with pith amidst all the heavy voltage action. Go for it!

Rating: ****

Netflix presents Friday Storytellers’ Taskaree: The Smuggler’s Web Produced by: Shital Bhatia Directed by: Neeraj Pandey, Raghav M. Jairath & B.A. Fida Written by: Neeraj Pandey & Vipul K. Rawal Music: Advait Nemlekar Starring: Emraan Hashmi, Sharad Kelkar, Anurag Sinha, Nandish Sandhu, Zoya Afroz, Anuja Sathe, Hemant Kher, Amruta Khanvilkar, Virendra Saxena, Jameel Khan, Sumit Nijhawan, Akash Ayyar, Pradeep Bhaskar, Shubham Kumar, Freddy Daruwala, Ekavalli Khanna, Giulia Sacco, Sajjad Hussain, Hrishikesh Joshi, Shailesh Datar & others

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