It is undoubtedly the season of corona virus. So many of us are isolated to our homes. With malls and theatres closed until the end of March, you almost find yourself with a lot of time left(outside working hours). And so just to keep the “shop” open, I have decided to review a few web series that will help you deal with this self imposed isolation. Again, this may or may not become a regular feature, but will see how this review is received. So here we go. It was in 2015 when Neeraj Pandey brought us the excellent espionage thriller, Baby. Till date, it remains one of my favourite spy movies of all time(even though some may argue that the second half was borrowed from the Hollywood film ‘Argo’). This week(midweek actually), he brings to us a web series, Special Ops, another one from his forte. Is it worth your time, lets find out.

Special Ops follows the story of a hunt for the mastermind of many terrorist attacks taking place in India. Though the story is tried and teed, yet it is a winner in its treatment. The screenplay is water tight and hardly allows you time to breath! I literally binge watched all the 8 episodes after work and yes, late in the night penning my review! Never once was I sleepy or bored, just shows how well the screenplay is penned! The “mystery” is good and revealed right at the end(but if you watch closely like I did then you can guess it too😊) If I had to pick one minor flaw, it was that things were rushed right at the end which made me think that probably they could have pushed for another episode simply to flesh things out. Also, a couple of tracks may have been left unattended but I am willing to pass that off. The dialogues are an extension of the ones you witnessed in Baby, some of them are witty! The background score is enthralling. The director’s chair is shared between Neeraj Pandey and Shivam Nair(who had previously directed Naam Shabana) and both deserve a rousing applause. The direction is top notch and you are invested in the drama also because of the brilliant direction.

This is quite an ensemble! Muzamil Ibrahim, Saiyami Kher, Vipul Gupta and Meher Vij all have moments to shine. Sana Khan has done a decent job. Vinay Pathak is top notch. Revati Pillai(Kota Factory) and Gautami are excellent in small cameos. So are Parmeet Sethi, Sharad Kelkar and the excellent Divya Dutta. Sajjad Delafrooz (you might remember him from Tiger Zinda Hai) is once again superb. Karan Tacker in one of his career defining roles, has to do some of the heavy lifting and he does score and how! Then, there is the veteran Kay Kay Menon who is underutilized by Bollywood, just showcases his craft to prove that he is one of the fine actors that we have around. In one of the scenes, he delivers a dialogue with a poker face without flinching one bit. Such control over his craft!

Special Ops comes at a time when we are in isolation due to the corona virus scare. And it definitely makes you isolation worth it! Available on Hotstar VIP, Special Ops is a mu watch!

PS : A spy thriller devoid of unnecessary jingoism! Way to go!