Special OPS
Special Ops (stylized as SPECIAL OPS)[2] is an Indian espionage thriller series created by Neeraj Pandey for Disney+ Hotstar's label Hotstar Specials with Kay Kay Menon leading the cast. Neeraj Pandey along with Shivam Nair directed the series with Pandey's Friday Storytellers attached as production house[3] which premiered on 17 March 2020.[4]
Special Ops | |
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Promotional poster | |
Genre | Action Espionage Thriller |
Created by | |
Written by |
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Directed by | |
Starring |
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Composer(s) | Advait Nemlekar |
Country of origin | India |
Original language(s) | Hindi |
No. of seasons | 1 |
No. of episodes | 8 (list of episodes) |
Production | |
Producer(s) | Shital Bhatia |
Production location(s) | |
Cinematography |
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Editor(s) | Praveen Kathikuloth |
Running time | 44-55 min |
Production company(s) | Friday Storytellers |
Distributor | Star India |
Release | |
Original network | Disney+Hotstar |
Picture format | HDTV 1080i |
Original release | March 17, 2020 |
Premise
The series follows Himmat Singh (Menon) of Research and Analysis Wing who draws similar patterns in terrorist attacks and is convinced a single person is behind all the attacks. His task force team of five agents living in various parts of the world aim to catch the mastermind.[5] Overall the story is based on the inspiration taken from Nineteen Years of national significant events. The story is inspired by several espionage missions undertaken by India in the last two decades.[6]
Cast
- Kay Kay Menon as Himmat Singh[7]
- Karan Tacker as Farooq Ali/Amjad Shaikh/Rashid Malik[7]
- Vinay Pathak as Abbas Sheikh[7]
- Vipul Gupta as Bala[8]
- Sajjad Delafrooz as Hafiz Ali[8]
- Muzammil Ibrahim as Avinash[8]
- Saiyami Kher as Juhi Kashyap[7]
- Meher Vij as Ruhani Sayed[7]
- Gautami Kapoor as Saroj Singh[7]
- Rajat Kaul as Ismail Hassan
- Sana Khan as Sonya[9]
- Mir Sarwar as Hamid
- S. M. Zaheer as Noor Baksh
- K. C. Shankar as Wasim Karachiwala
- Parmeet Sethi as Naresh Chadda
- Kali Prasad Mukherjee as Mr. D.K. Bannerjee
- Divya Dutta as Sadia Qureshi[7]
- Sharad Kelkar as Surya Kumar
- Pawan Chopra as Chintan
- Bikramjeet Kanwarpal as G.P. Mathur
- Rajendra Chawla as llliyaas Hassan
- Pakkhi Gupta as Farah Qureshi
- Tanaya Sachdeva as Aditi Rao, daughter of Indian ambassador in Turkey
- Sohaila Kapur as Sujata Thapar
- Bijendra Gupta as Habib Naik
- Rahul Vora as Zaheer Raza
- Abhiroy Singh as Mansoor
- Anuj Sharma as Chaudhary[10]
- Arvind Wahi as Bakhtiar Khan
- Ajit Shidahe as ISI chief
- Revathi Pillai as Pari Singh
- Bala Krishna Reddy
Episodes
No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date | |
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1 | "Kaagaz Ke Phool" | Shivam Nair | Neeraj Pandey, Deepak Kingrani & Benazir Ali Fida | March 17, 2020 | |
In 2001, five terrorists in a house were getting things ready to attack the parliament on the instructions of another guy, all of them die in the process of the attack. In present day Himmat Singh (Menon) is attending the R&AW audit meeting, as to explain on where did he spend 28 crores in last 11 years on Middle East desk, which are all mentioned to be miscellaneous? He explains that he had planted agents in five countries and those funds were ulilized for their needs and refuses to reveal their identities. Later his superiors ask him about his theory on 2001 Parliament attack in which he was a part of the investigations. Himmat finds the shop name in the dry fruits packets the terrorists were carrying and asks Abbas (Vinay Pathak) to investigate, from which he finds out that the sixth guy who bought the dryfruits was living near a mosque. Himmat and Abbas reach to the place and start searching, they notice smoke coming out of the window as the sixth guy burns all his things and escapes. As they reach the house Himmat finds his Pakistani passport which was half burnt with no details. Farooq (Karan) calls Himmat and informs that he found Ikhlaq Khan in UAE. | |||||
2 | "Guide" | Neeraj Pandey | Neeraj Pandey, Deepak Kingrani & Benazir Ali Fida | March 17, 2020 | |
3 | "Mughal-E-Azam" | Shivam Nair | Neeraj Pandey, Deepak Kingrani & Benazir Ali Fida | March 17, 2020 | |
4 | "Hum Kisi Se Kam Nahi" | Neeraj Pandey | Neeraj Pandey, Deepak Kingrani & Benazir Ali Fida | March 17, 2020 | |
5 | "Chaudvin Ka Chand" | Shivam Nair | Neeraj Pandey, Deepak Kingrani & Benazir Ali Fida | March 17, 2020 | |
6 | "Qurbani" | Neeraj Pandey | Neeraj Pandey, Deepak Kingrani & Benazir Ali Fida | March 17, 2020 | |
7 | "Shatranj Ke Khiladi" | Shivam Nair | Neeraj Pandey, Deepak Kingrani & Benazir Ali Fida | March 17, 2020 | |
8 | "Sholay" | Neeraj Pandey | Neeraj Pandey, Deepak Kingrani & Benazir Ali Fida | March 17, 2020 |
Production
Development
Hotstar in January 2019 announced its aspirations to enter into original content production exclusively for the service. STAR India, the parent company of Hotstar tapped many Indian filmmakers including Neeraj Pandey[11] for creating these shows called Hotstar Specials.[12] Pandey had started a new division Friday Storytellers as a digital arm of his production company through which he had produced the series.[13] The series is developed as an eight hour story which is inspired by nineteen years worth events of national significance by Pandey along with Deepak Kingrani and Benazir Ali Fida.
Casting
The casting on the project started with Kay Kay Menon.[14] In August 2019. By mid-August, they finished casting the major roles with prominent actors such as Kali Prasad Mukherjee, and Pawan Chopra.[15]
Filming
The principal photography started in August 2019.[16] Shivam Nair attached to direct the portions of the show taking place in India[17] and Pandey directing the rest. The show has recreated Parliament of India for filming 2001 Indian Parliament attack portions which was dealt for the first time in film history.[18] Apart from India the show is filmed in Turkey, Jordan and Azerbaijan.[19]
References
- "Hotstar Specials and Neeraj Pandey come together for 'Special Ops'". The Hans India.
- "Neeraj Pandey to Helm Spy Thriller Web Series 'Special Ops'". www.news18.com.
- "Karan Tacker to make a comeback with Neeraj Pandey's web series Special Ops". India Today.
- "Special Ops trailer: The Hotstar original promises thrills galore". The Indian Express. 25 February 2020.
- Staff, Scroll. "'Special Ops' trailer: Kay Kay Menon plays a RAW agent on the trail of a terrorist mastermind". Scroll.in.
- Pandey, Nikhil. "NEERAJ PANDEY TO MAKE HOTSTAR SHOW?". Republic World.
- VIP, Hotstar [@HotstarVIP] (22 February 2020). "Action. Thrill. Neeraj Pandey. Here's the first look of Hotstar Specials presents #SpecialOps. Trailer launches on 25th February. Stay Tuned! @FFW_Official @neerajpofficial @kaykaymenon02 @karantacker @kokodiaries @SaiyamiKher @pathakvinay @divyadutta25pic.twitter.com/oejUTrgwZU" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- "Hotstar VIP on Instagram: "Action. Thrill. Neeraj Pandey. Here's the first look of Hotstar Specials presents #SpecialOps. Trailer launches on 25th February. Stay…"". Instagram.
- "Trailer Touchdown: A raw, action-packed look is what Hotstar's Special Ops is all about". Lets OTT. 25 February 2020. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
- "Watch the First Trailer for Neeraj Pandey's Special Ops, Coming to Hotstar in 2020". NDTV Gadgets 360.
- "Hotstar announces original content under Hotstar Specials; to be out in March". Exchange4Media. Retrieved 17 September 2019.
- "We are not building Hindi shows but Indian content: Gaurav Banerjee, Star India". Indian Advertising Media & Marketing News – exchange4media.
- Pandey, Neeraj [@neerajpofficial] (25 February 2020). "Proudly presenting FRIDAY STORYTELLERS, the digital arm of FRIDAY FILMWORKS. Also happy to share with you the trailer of our first series SPECIAL OPS. Coming soon on Hotstar. Click on the link below to see the trailer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GF0H5DZAE2g …pic.twitter.com/t0Jh3MUE6C" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- "Kay Kay Menon roped in for Hotstar Specials series Special OPS". IMWBuzz. 6 August 2019. Retrieved 17 September 2019.
- "Sharad Kelkar joins the cast of Hotstar Specials series". IMW Buzz. 16 August 2019. Retrieved 18 September 2019.
- Kher, Saiyami [@SaiyamiKher] (18 February 2020). "Up next - SPECIAL OPS! Directed by the amazing @neerajpofficial :) He was always on my wish list after I watched A Wednesday! Glad I could be a part of this project. Coming soon.. stay tuned for more updates! @HotstarVIP @ShitalBhatiaFFW @FridayFilmworks @mid_day @MoharBasupic.twitter.com/fScL4uxFTH" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- "Neeraj Pandey at trailer launch of Special Ops web series | Hotstar Specials | Gaurav Banerjee" – via www.youtube.com.
- "Special Ops trailer: 2001 Parliament attack leads to a 19-year manhunt in Neeraj Pandey's Hotstar original. Watch video". hindustantimes.com.
- "Special Ops – The Story Of A 19-Year Hunt For The Terrorist Behind The Biggest Attacks On India". Urban Asian. 26 February 2020.
- "Special Ops | India's Longest Manhunt | Official Trailer" – via www.youtube.com.
- VIP, Hotstar [@HotstarVIP] (24 February 2020). "The story of India's longest manhunt unfolds at 5 p.m. Stay tuned! #SpecialOps @FFW_Official @neerajpofficial @kaykaymenon02 @karantacker @kokodiaries @SaiyamiKher @pathakvinay @divyadutta25 @sanaak21pic.twitter.com/Q7RcahEJrs" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- "Kay Kay Menon, Divya Dutta, Sana Khaan and others launch Special Ops trailer". .The Indian Express. 26 February 2020.
External links
- Special OPS on IMDb