First up, the motivation to watch this web series is of course the man behind it – Neeraj Pandey who has built a formidable reputation for himself in the thriller particularly the Spy thriller genre with works like Baby, Aiyyary and The Special Ops series. Pandey is credited with creating and co-writing this series while the show has been directed by Bhav Dhulia another promising talent. At the outset, Pandey once again affirms our confidence in him with a fairly engaging series that has its ups and downs.
This is Neeraj Pandey’s Universe. In this series, Pandey, while continuing to talk about the Jihadi extremist universe extends the story to include the influence of ISIS and its radicalisation program. The story is about how a girl from an educated middle-class family in Mumbai gets sucked into the ISIS web unwittingly through a planned trap of love and marriage ending up in the ISIS den of Syria and her extraction by an Ex-cop who is now part of a large group of unknown hitmen operating as mercenaries. The story is adapted from the book – A Ticket to Syria by Shirish Thorat.
Of late we have been hearing a lot about “Unknown Gunmen” in our not-so-friendly neighbourhood bumping off sundry terrorists and extremists. If one has been wondering how this industry of “Unknown gunmen” operates, this film gives a good overview of it. We are shown random men and women based out of different countries with different backgrounds coming together to conduct a certain operation, finishing it off clinically and exiting the place without a trace or trail. The male lead in this – Avinash Damodaran is one such random guy who operates with the code name of “Freelancer” out of Morocco and obviously comes with a back story as to how he ended up becoming a mercenary. The series gives a good account of how conflicting “Agencies” operate and cooperate when needed.
In the recent past, after The Railway Men this is another series that takes your breath away with the quality of production. The settings as expansive as Mumbai, Morocco, the US, Europe and parts of the Middle East are aesthetically and authentically shot. The camera work with an overdose of helicopter/drone shots conveys the hostility of the terrain without saying it in so many words. The BGM though not as nerve-wracking or creating that edge-of-the-seat feel as the one in Pandey’s Baby is still a handful in setting the mood and tempo. The ISIS habitats in Syria have been re-created well and as I mentioned earlier, the sets and production design are of the highest order in the whole series.
The Series which has 7 episodes, has been released in 2 parts. Now that all the episodes are available it can be seen in full. In the 1st part, the focus was on the context setting concerning the main characters. I found this part to be more interesting and engaging than the 2nd part which focussed on the escape of the girl Aliya trapped in Syria. The 2nd part is more filmy and the crux of it which is the actual extraction and escape of the girl orchestrated by the Freelancer is bereft of any adrenaline rush moments. It is pulled off rather very easily and is completely predictable. I found the screenplay and writing weak, not so tight and fully believable when we are talking of heavy subjects like the ISIS conspiracy in this part.
Apart from the high quality of production, the other thing that works for the series is the cast. Mohit Raina who resembles and even talks like M.S. Dhoni in most parts is earnest in his portrayal of the Ex-Cop turned mercenary. The other cast that includes Neeraj Pandey regulars like Anupam Kher and Sushant Singh do their parts very well. The girl Kashmeera Pardeshi as Aliya also does a competent job.
The subject, characters and the ending endear themselves to future seasons easily and like The Family Man, this can be an interesting franchise that could be built as a universe. I would recommend The Freelancer to be a Good Watch if you like the Neeraj Pandey Universe. It is streaming on Disney-Hotstar.
AnandKumarRSonFilms 
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