Special Ops Review: An overly-stretched espionage thriller

Do us a favour and take a rubber band. Now stretch it, a little more, now some more. Here, these are the first five episodes of the Hotstar series Special Ops. The next three are far better in terms of pace and manage to generate interest but it is too late by then. Not even the fancy titles do any good. The damage has been done. Over and out.

Neeraj Pandey, the man associated with some of the most fantastic Bollywood thrillers (A Wednesday, Special 26, Baby) has co-written the series along with Deepak Kingrani and Benazir Ali. He is also the co-director along with Shivam Nair.

Because of Neeraj Pandey, one might expect it to be a cleverly crafted series with great twists. Much like what we all felt in Special 26, when an entire team of officers was revealed to be a mere distraction. But then, he is also the man who gave us a disaster in the form of Aiyaary. And Special Ops is more like Aiyaary (sadly) with its forced slow-motion scenes, predictable twists, absence of logic and poorly executed story.

This doesn’t mean that there are no elements that don’t match his successful works. We have an Old Delhi setup in the first episode that reminds us heavily of Baby and Special 26. Then there is the classic cat-and-mouse chase, an officer who is unafraid of his seniors, undercover agents, code words, interrogations, mention of real-life events etc. However, despite all this, Special Ops lacks the ability to engage us. The climax gives that 'thrill’ for a moment though, but also leaves us with questions that are never answered.

The makers try to pique interest with excessive background music. Much like the fighting scenes which weren’t needed at all.

Talking about the story, we are taken to the life of Himmat Singh (Kay Kay Menon), a RAW officer who isn’t afraid of defying orders if it serves the interest of the nation. An internal audit inquiry is being conducted on him and he is asked to account for the huge amount of money spent from the government funds. While initially, this captures attention (never before has an officer been inquired), it gradually becomes tiring.

Through the inquiry, Himmat reveals that according to him, there was a sixth man, named Ikhlaq Khan, who was the mastermind behind the Parliament terror attack of December 13, 2001. While others refuse to believe that the man even exists, Himmat has been trying to track him since then and has five undercover agents placed in different parts of the world for the same.

The agents are Farooq Ali (Karan Tacker), Ruhani Syed Khan (Meher Vij), Balakrishna Reddy (Vipul Gupta), Avinash (Muzzamil Ibrahim), and Juhi Kashyap (Saiyami Kher). While a lot of screen time, as well as backstory, is given to Farooq, not much is revealed about the other four. They are there just because the writers needed them. Much like certain events that had to happen, in order to pave the way for the climax.

On the upside, Special Ops has some excellent performances. Kay Kay Menon is fantastic as an officer who doesn’t lose his calm even in the hardest of times. He is also a protective (sometimes overly) father and a loving husband. Menon’s expressions go from soft to intense within seconds and it is a delight to see him on the screen.

Karan Tacker does a fine job as agent Farooq and looks dashing throughout the series.

Others including Vipul Gupta, Muzammil Ibrahim, Saiyami Kher, Meher Vij, Divya Dutta, Vinay Pathak and Sharad Kelkar do full justice to their roles.

As much as we hate to say it, Neeraj Pandey’s Special Ops is not a binge-watch worthy thriller. If you have the patience to sit through the first five episodes, you just might enjoy the last three. But aren't there enough thrillers available already?