Special OPS 1.5 Web Review: Special, in a sweet sorta way

Special OPS 15On DisneyHotstarDir Neeraj PandeyCast Kay Kay Menon Vinay PathakRating 35Now who uses the word sweet to describe a spy thriller Naah Irsquom just being cheesy because Special Ops 15 is basically a series about desi middleaged government servants getting honeytrapped one after anotherThe beauty of the show still is that all these men mdashwhether spy serviceman or bureaucrat mdash share a certain air of dignity about them And for us to care about how none of them really wouldrsquove faltered so badly at the casual invitation of lust This empathy is sort of essential for the show to simply never slip into Bgrade territory as wellWatch VideoNot that there is scope for anything Bgrade if you go by the generous budgets of this series that before all else is about wanderlust if you may So was Special Ops that this is a prequel of In fact given how the camera relentlessly traverses between Russia Serbia London Dhaka Colombo Kiev and the like mdash you could be forgiven to believe RampAW Indiarsquos external spy agency is firstly a travel agencyIn any case all through the show you wonder whether RampAW is punching above its supposed global weight As you also felt with Special Ops But then again if James Bond from the slightly piddly Britainrsquos MI6 has the wherewithal to singularly save the human world hell why not Himmat Singh from RampAW noHimmat Singh being actor Kay Kay Menon of course By far the most special part about both parts of Special Ops This isnrsquot to discount the relatively selfeffacing Vinay Pathak who as you might know plays Himmatrsquos unofficial confidante from among Delhirsquos copsIrsquoll tell you whorsquos really the lsquofindrsquo by way of addition in the cast here Aftab Shivdasani If yoursquove followed Shivdasanirsquos career tragically very few have mdash right from a golden start as the child star of Mr India 1987 mdash you might consider him as a really talented actor squarely done in by a spate of secondrate scriptsfilmsHe like everyone else in the equally competent cast should be happy to belong to the creator plus codirector Neeraj Pandeyrsquos world of sleuths sex stylish setpieces and some sort of serioussounding espionage stuff Pandey mdash if yoursquove seen his films as well Baby Special 26 Aiyaary mdash comes from a space of love for the spycop genreSo much so that you donrsquot know if any of this stuff is true you feel like an accomplished viewer still learning a thing or two about spygiri along the way For instance that attractive women fit to be artistesactors were trained in special schools from childhood to be recruited as lsquosparrowsrsquo for honeytraps with KGB back in the day God knows if they still areOr that in spyspeak there really are four motives for someone doublecrossing or finding himself in a compromised position in favour of an enemy state as it were Thatrsquos MICE meaning money ideology coercion or egoBut letrsquos not get too carried away by this education alright These are standard tropes for audiences to otherwise suspend disbelief mdashsomething that Pandey as writerdirector is inherently good at in the most desi mainstream way Yoursquove seen the original Special Ops so you know what I meanThis season loaded with flashbacks over flashbacks essentially starts off with Himmat Singh getting into retirement mode While hersquos been a spy gone rogue for a fair portion of his career what canrsquot possibly be ignored is his stunningly daring contribution to Indiarsquos security apparatus Hersquos saved the country from the brink of disaster over a glorious albeit unsung careerHow Well thatrsquos what this show is about In comes therefore a much younger Kay Kay Menon Donrsquot know if there is a metaphor here somewhere mdash on screen despite all the VFX and prosthetics makeup at onersquos disposal the toughest look to pull off is deageing an actor There was a decent job done on Shah Rukh Khan in the film Fan 2015 for instance They used an altogether new technology to deage Al Pacino Robert De Niro and others in The Irishman 2019Was I just imagining it but you can spot a lot of grains on Menonrsquos face in the younger portions That apart the looktest results are convincing enough Enough anyway to not distract from the plotWhich of course Irsquom not gonna detail Be sure though that yoursquoll spot a loop hole here a lacuna there incredulous moments of terrible coincidences elsewhere What I think yoursquoll like still is that at no point does the series overstay its welcome Staying true to a neatly packaged piece of entertainment cutting to the chase and uniformly sticking with it until the endThe end being For once the fourth episode and no further As against completely rando shows across all OTT platforms going into their fourth season That equals a full donation of onersquos precious lifetime towards the imagination of a few seeking attention from bored millions Irsquom sorry but we really could do with more miniseries like theseVIEW PHOTOS Newlywed couple Rajkummar Rao and Patralekhaa arrive in Mumbai

Special OPS 1.5 Web Review: Special, in a sweet sorta way

Special OPS 1.5
On: Disney+Hotstar
Dir: Neeraj Pandey
Cast: Kay Kay Menon, Vinay Pathak
Rating 3/5

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Home / Entertainment / Web Series / Article / Special OPS 1.5 Web Review: Special, in a sweet sorta way

Special OPS 1.5 Web Review: Special, in a sweet sorta way

Special OPS 1.5On: Disney+HotstarDir: Neeraj PandeyCast: Kay Kay Menon, Vinay PathakRating 3/5

Trending Stories

Latest Photos

Latest Videos

Latest Web Stories

Mid-Day Fast

Special OPS 1.5
On: Disney+Hotstar
Dir: Neeraj Pandey
Cast: Kay Kay Menon, Vinay Pathak
Rating 3/5