The Freelancer Review: Created by Neeraj Pandey, the thriller series stars Mohit Raina, Anupam Kher, Kashmira Pardeshi, Ayesha Raza Mishra, Navneet Malik, Manjari Fadnnis, Sushant Singh, John Kokken, Gauri Balaji, Sarah Jane Dias and Navneet Malik alongside others. The series, based on the 2017 book A Ticket to Syria by Shirish Thorat, is produced by Friday Storytellers and directed by Bhav Dhulia and consists of 7 episodes, with the first 4 episodes of part 1 releasing on September 1 with a runtime ranging from 40 – 60 minutes.
The Freelancer Plot
When Aliya goes missing in Turkey, and her father dies under mysterious circumstances, the latter’s colleague Avinash, now a freelance mercenary, goes into the bowels of an extremist movement taking momentum in Syria in order to rescue her. As most people dub this mission an impossible task, Avinash promises to stop at nothing until he is able to rescue his friend’s young daughter.
– The Freelancer Review Does Not Contain Spoilers –
The Freelancer Review
Neeraj Pandey’s newest extraction thriller taps into that innate fear that most people have about being swindled into a marriage which results in joining a terrorist organisation – a fear that was probably unlocked thanks to 2009’s Kurbaan, a gritty and dark look into a sham marriage and a woman’s plight to get out of a very serious situation. The Mohit Raina-starrer, thus, exacerbates that nagging feeling in the back of the brain and reels you in with its tight storytelling and the feeling of impending doom in every scene.
The series, with around 60-minute episodes, gives room for its characters and the situations that they find themselves in to breathe. Mohit Raina’s Avinash Kamath isn’t just a stocky mercenary whom everyone talks about in hushed whispers – his tragic backstory and sort of sad present situation leave viewers invested in him when he goes all out to rescue a girl that he has known and loved since she was a child. In fact, all the characters are given some sort of backstory for us to latch on to, and thus, this isn’t just some girl getting abducted by ISIS. You care about Aliya and want Avinash to rescue her.
This situation also makes you wonder about the fate of those who don’t have a mercenary for an uncle. What is the fate of the common folks like Inayat who don’t have connections in higher places – what happens to those girls who get abducted and taken away to far away places, hidden away from the world in some hellhole? I think Inayat’s desperation and running from pillar to post holds up a mirror to what a father’s plight can be in such situations and will fill your heart with empathy and fear about the state of things in the country and the role that the government plays in keeping its citizens safe.
Apart from that, The Freelancer does a great job of holding on to its thrilling aspects as it switches back and forth between the issue at hand and gives us context to the relationship and who Avinash is. I think the latter got a bit too much with the audience being reminded that he is not something to be trifled with. Which, I get it – but once or twice is enough; maybe reducing the runtime would’ve been a better choice in that respect. Either way, it’s not something that will ruin the experience for you. If anything, a little bit of fast-forwarding wouldn’t hurt too much.
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Mohit Raina looks the part of “The Freelancer” – he looks every bit physically like a mercenary for hire and has the air of someone who is mentally a strong and no-nonsense individual capable of going through missions that others wouldn’t be able to. Kashmira Pardeshi as Aliya, a scared newlywed for whom the rug has been pulled from underneath, plays that exact part quite convincingly, and you feel bad for her and scared for her in an unfamiliar and very dangerous situation. There’s something so “possible” in the scenario that is described that it will make you rethink some of your life choices and give you trust issues.
I think my biggest gripe with the series, however, is that it’s releasing in two parts. I don’t really get the point of every web show nowadays coming out over the course of months at a time, especially because it’s mostly unnecessary and more often than not, you might just forget what happened in the first part when you see the second part 2 months later. The series ends off on a confusing cliffhanger, that is not only annoying but feels very sudden. And now, you are left to wait out however many months it might take for Hotstar to give us the actual action and the meat of the story!
The Freelancer Review: Final Thoughts
Mohit Raina’s extraction thriller is surprisingly interesting and arresting. With the fear of being put in such a situation, a fear that most women (rightly) have, the series keeps itself thrilling while giving its characters important and oftentimes emotional backstories that make you care for the characters and their journeys as the situation gets more and more tense. The Freelancer, thus, might just be the perfect binging buddy this weekend.
The Freelancer is streaming on Hotstar.
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