First Season: Chasing the unknown mastermind of the 2001 Parliament attack, Special Ops follows a novel narrative of conveying the proceedings through an official questioning of RAW agent Himmat Singh (Kay Kay Menon). The non-linear format of storytelling is the key merit of the technically rich series and performances keep you involved led by the exceptional Kay Kay.
As Himmat Singh discloses his task forces of five agents sent to various parts of the world, the excitement grows and the lavishly shot action sequences continue to impress, even when they all appear to be too cleanly executed missing the realistic touch. The fast-paced writing keeps it going along with a splendid supporting cast, camerawork, and background score. But the storyline is full of glaring loopholes with many huge creative liberties taken in almost every episode.
At times, repetition slows down the pace, but the concluding episodes skilfully cover it up, coming up with an intriguing and well-shot climax. However, the assumption of CCTV installed in all parts of the world (even in the underpass in different countries), controlled by technicians in India, is an unbelievable or rather absurd kind of insertion forming the base of its entire proceedings. So, one has to ignore this major flaw to enjoy the eight-part series created by Neeraj Pandey.
Overall, this is a more than decent presentation conceived like a heist film, literally owned by Kay Kay Menon who makes a great team with Vinay Pathak. Using hit Hindi films names for the episode’s titles, Special Ops is not an edge-of-the-seat, suspense-driven thriller, but still far better than a lot of routine stuff offered in the specific genre. With the novel form of narrative remaining its exciting merit, the series certainly deserves to be given a chance for Kay Kay Menon, Vinay Pathak, and its slick direction .
Rating : 3.5 / 5
Second Season 1.5: As the first season performed well and the key character of Himmat Singh won unanimous appreciation from the viewers, the team thought of making a prequel instead of a sequel of the series focusing on the lead character alone.
As a result, the new Season 1.5 is all about the back-story of Himmat Singh, focusing on how he became the most competent RAW agent among the rest. The format of questioning by two assigned officials remains the same, but this time we have Vinay Pathak, who narrates the sequence of events in the life of Himmat Singh, as witnessed in the past.
The prequel, which can also be called a spin-off, begins well, raising your expectations to see something great about Himmat and his initial years as a spy/agent. Kay Kay’s young look gains attention and the dialogues of Pathak add to the suspense with catchy one-liners like “Don’t ask questions, hear no lies”. A Facebook conversation with like-minded friends revealed that the same line was earlier there in the film Jannat too, said by Emran Hashmi translated in Hindi.
Unfortunately, the great start of this four-part prequel doesn’t get any equally significant support from the execution of its next three episodes. Though it is yet again a well-shot, lavish series, but without any solid writing repeating the same old things, seen in many similar movies. So, the expected excellence is nowhere to be found in the four new episodes offering average, predictable stuff enacted by the super-confident Kay Kay and his associate Vinay Pathak.
To be honest, the story of Himmat Singh had to be a lot more exploring some new avenues moving ahead than the seen before and usual. In the present version its only the scenes featuring the two lead actors that remain the big saviour for the prequel aptly titled 1.5, as it simply remains half of what we got to see in Season 1. So, you can watch it for Kay Kay and Vinay Pathak (along with a pleasant appearance of Aftab Shivdasani), but without expecting much in terms of story-telling or content post the first episode.
Rating : 2.5 / 5
(Note : Released on Disney + Hotstar)
Bobby Sing
bobbytalkscinema.com
