Our "Review of The Freelancer"
What Is the Story About?
Disney Plus Hotstar’s new original series ‘The Freelancer’ centres on a newly-married young woman Aliya (Kashmira Pardeshi), who is forcibly taken away to Syria by her radicalised husband Mohsin Fazal (Navneet Malik) and his family. Enter cop turned mercenary-for-hire Avinash Kamath (Mohit Raina) who is her father Inayat Khan’s (Sushant Singh) old colleague from their police days. Avinash, aka The Freelancer in the mercenary world, must now extract Aliya from the clutch of the ISIS, with the help of chief troubleshooter Dr Arif Khan (Anupam Kher).
The Freelancer is created by Neeraj Pandey, directed by Bhav Dhulia, written by Ritesh Shah and Benazir Ali Fida, and is adapted from Shirish Thorat’s book, ‘Ticket To Syria’.
Performances?
Mohit Raina is suitably grim and grave as Avinash Kamath. His clipped dialogue delivery suits his character well. Overall, it’s a decent performance from the dependable actor, though certainly not his best. Anupam Kher is as efficient as ever as Dr Khan. He adds gravitas to his enigmatic character. John Kokken is very good as Indian intelligence agent, Raghavendra Sethu. Balaji Gauri’s Farhat Khala is chilling as hell. It’s an excellent performance from her. The rest of the cast lends good support.
Analysis
Neeraj Pandey’s new series ‘The Freelancer‘ is yet another addition to the recently done-to-death premise of young women being forcibly taken to Syria in service of the ISIS. The Kerala Story and Akelli in India, and Caliphate on Netflix touch upon similar themes. What sets The Freelancer apart is its focus on the macho male saviour of the female in distress, a la Chris Hemsworth’s Extraction films.
Neeraj Pandey has become the de facto maven of the man-on-covert-mission and spy genre in the Indian content space. His latest outing mostly stays true to his skill with the genre. But beware — The Freelancer has an irritating overload of information and exposition. Even rudimentary spy terms such as mercenary and the like are explained in painstaking detail by characters on screen. It might be enlightening for those who know nothing about the genre. But hard-core viewers of espionage thrillers will find it very tedious to sit through over-long exposition dumps.
The storytelling is largely taut and fast-paced, but the numerous flashback sequences drag it down. The constant toggling between the past and present makes the series quite annoying to watch. Also, what’s it with spies and their dysfunctional family lives? Can’t a spy show/movie have a spy with a happy family life for a change? It’s quite exasperating how every spy or mercenary in the online spy-scape has a sad, sordid past.
That aside, the characters in the series are well-written and likeable. Anupam Kher’s Dr Khan is engaging and intriguing. He has all the information on his fingertips, solutions for every problem, excellent insight, and a foresight to match. In short, Anupam Kher’s Dr Khan is the ‘Chellam Sir’ of The Freelancer.
Manjari Fadnis’ Mrunal is the only character that sets one’s teeth on edge, quite like her character in the 2008 film, Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Ya. Even the antagonists in the story aren’t as unlikeable as the Mrunal character. Also, Mrunal and Avinash’s sob story is the pits; and totally not required in the plot. There, we’ve said it!
The action set pieces in The Freelancer are very similar to action sequences in most action thrillers of recent times. Extended single-take shots and urgent moves, embellished with loud, over-the-top background music, among other spy movie tropes, underline the plot in the series.
That being said, The Freelancer is good overall, quite watchable and holds one’s attention till the end. Which brings us to the worst part of the series – and that is Disney Plus Hotstar’s foolhardy strategy of releasing the series in two parts. Only four episodes of The Freelancer are out in Part 1. The rest will release later in the form of The Freelancer Part 2. Suffice to say, we’re not happy.
Music and Other Departments?
Sanjoy Chowdhury’s music is too loud and cacophonous. Tojo Xavier’s camerawork is impressive. He captures the stark locales well. Praveen Kathikuloth’s editing is crisp and fluid.
Highlights?
Drawbacks?
Too much explanation and expositionToo many flashbacks
Mrunal and Avinash’s sob story
Did I Enjoy It?
Yes, but with reservationsWill You Recommend It?
Yes, but with reservationsThe Freelancer Series Review by Bajaj Movie.
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