Special Ops 2 review: 5 years later, Neeraj Pandey and Kay Kay Menon surprise with a banging sophomore season | Web-series News

Of course, we know that spying is both a deadly serious and enormously funny business, and in between all the skirmishes and shoot-outs, there are patches of dry, wry humour: I mean even Jason Bourne has to smile sometimes, right? Someone who thinks of themselves as geopolitically savvy can laugh and say, in your dreams, and our whip smart RAW officer Himmat Singh (Kay Kay Menon) would just allow himself his trademark tight smile, and go about his business, setting up efficient ‘back-channels’ with counterparts in Beijing and Washington, and getting our boys, and girls, safe home.

Part 2 starts where part one ended. The usual suspects are in play, but this time around, keeping up with the times, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is leading the way. The series opens with a high-profile kidnapping of an AI expert (Arif Zakaria) in Budapest, the new favourite location of Indian web-series, and movies. At the same time, an operative (Tota Roy Chowdhury) gets shot in Delhi. What is the connection between the two events? Who is the shadowy villain who has operated in the margins for so long, and is now out, creating mayhem? And who is the mole– yes, there is one– leaking all our secrets to the enemy?

China is the big bad villain, planning to sabotage the Indian economy by cyberattacks orchestrated with the help of zero-morals-only-moolah bizman Sudhir Awasthi (Tahir Raj Bhasin), whose living arrangements have been dreamt up by someone who is clearly a fan of colourful old-school hideouts from the movies, the scale of which even a Bond baddie would be proud of. The small man on the streets is getting hit by ‘ghotalas’ created by corrupt politicians and greedy Gujju billionaires on the run (a Nirav Modi stand-in?), and banks are running out of ready cash.

It’s a busy plot, with multiple killings and hired assassins lurking about in such places as Slovenia, Serbia, Georgia, all of which add to the scenic locales the characters flit through. There are riots in Rawalpindi, and an ISI asset is pressed into service. Meanwhile, back home, Himmat and his merry band (Karan Tacker, Muzammil Ibrahim, Saiyami Kher, Meher Vij, Shikha Talsania, Kamakshi Bhat) are on the job, tracking culprits and tracing their movements via all manner of shiny tech: Bhat plays a crack coder who has a fix on everything, while managing a small flirtation on the side; in fact, all the ladies lend colour and flavour to the whole thing.

That spies are family men and women is a constant reminder. Himmat has a bit of a problem on the domestic front, with always-holding-the-fort patient wife (Gautami Kapoor) trying to figure out how to keep a dark secret from daughter Pari (Revathi Pillai). Old senior cop associate (Vinay Pathak) and Himmat keep their running green tea joke going. New addition in the shape of retired spy-and-mentor (Prakash Raj) is a good addition even if his strand sometimes threatens to slow down the proceedings. His character borrows from his real-life persona and makes it the upright moral bone of the series: citizens have forgotten to ask questions, he says at one point, and that’s why these power-hungry netas and unscrupulous rich are allowed to get away with plunder and murder.

There are throwaway remarks about the plight of ‘Chinese Uyghur Muslims’. A fellow named Zhang is up to no good. A big bank defaulter called Jignesh Dholakia, who knows a thing or two about ‘honey-traps’, is hiding out in a picturesque mansion. Through all these threads, most of which land, an awareness of the world and who is actually pushing its levers leaches through, even if done in a light, let’s-get-on-with-it manner. Just by letting Raj’s true voice carry through in his listen-to-the-people-avataar, and his warning– do something or else I will take matters in my own hands– takes you back to Pandey’s A Wednesday glory days. Throwing that in is a neat balance with Zakaria’s Bharat-was-a tech-giant-in-ancient-days schtick (have you ever heard of a ‘yantrakaar’?) just before a tape is slapped on his mouth, and he is whisked away.

Given its length, there definitely are spots where things slacken, but on the whole, this buzzy spy-saga stays mostly on-point, always entertaining. And Kay Kay, mostly enclosed in his office, juggling his non-smart phones, tossing out impossible orders to his intrepid field officers, shows how it is done: head down, brain in top gear, barking ‘wait for my instructions’. Yes sir, Himmat Sir.

Special Ops 2 cast: Kay Kay Menon, Karan Tacker, Tahir Raj Bhasin, Prakash Raj, Muzammil Ibrahim, Arif Zakaria, Vinay Pathak, Saiyami Kher, Meher Vij, Gautami Kapoor, Shikha Talsania, Kamakshi Bhat, Parmeet Sethi, Dalip Tahil, Kali Prasad Mukherjee, Tota Roy Chowdhury, Revathi Pillai ; director : Neeraj Pandey, Shivam Nair
Special Ops 2 star rating: Three and a half stars