Special Ops 1.5 evaluation: Kay Kay Menon’s Himmat Singh to the rescue from been-there-seen-that entice

In Season One of Special Ops, RAW agent Himmat Singh is on the telephone. ‘Thok do’ (kill him), he orders tersely. And then, quickly after, ‘Chhod do’ (depart him). Instantly, the phrases of an apt 70s Bollywood music spring to thoughts: ‘maar diya jaaye ya chhod diya jaaye, bol tere saath kya salook kiya jiya’. A personality taking part in Russian roulette with sundry lives? Now that’s known as an entry.

It’s an incredible hook, and it helps us navigate the remainder of the primary season, which takes eight too-long episodes and several other unhurried, considerably lumbering detours to get the place it needs to: The Bad Muslim Terrorists are ‘thokoed’, The Smart Indian Spy emerges victorious, and everybody goes house comfortable.

Except they don’t. Special Ops 1.5, which opens on Disney Hotstar this morning, tells us that there’s no relaxation for the depraved. Himmat Singh (Kay Kay Menon) continues to be within the dock, the interlocutors are the identical clueless Tweedledum and Tweedledee duo of Bannerji Sahab and Chaddha Sahab (Kali Prasad Mukherjee and Parmeet Sethi), and they’re nonetheless curious concerning the spymeister who fortunately spends lakhs of ‘sarkaari’ funds on imprecise classes labeled as miscellaneous. Just who is that this Himmat Singh? And how did he turn into Himmat Singh, the person for all seasons?

Good questions. It’s all the time good to know the backstories of our heroes, particularly those that inhabit scorching seats, push buttons, and save the world. Except this sequel or prequel or no matter it needs to name itself is rarely as attention-grabbing as its protagonist, falling tiredly into the been-there-seen-it entice at each step.

One of my favorite elements in Season One is when a personality strings up one other in the midst of a busy marina, atop a ship, in broad daylight. Clearly, neither the scriptwriters nor the individual doing the stringing, with an intent to kill, is concerned about what would occur if somebody popped up. Logic and desi spy-sagas will not be the perfect of friends, however typically can throw up some entertainingly weird situations: the second season doesn’t veer into self-aware silliness usually sufficient.

So, it’s all the way down to Kay Kay to rescue us. Even although we see him largely in flashback (it’s a type of origin story, in spite of everything) in probably the most distracting hair-do, he’s nonetheless his sharp, sardonic self, pushing again at corrupt, incompetent seniors and catching the backs of the individuals he works with. This high quality evokes timeless admiration in Abbas Sheikh (Vinay Pathak), diligent cop and trustworthy collaborator, who picks up the threads, and provides us chapter and verse of his hero’s ascent. The interactions between two are the perfect a part of this season too.

The bother that besets the brand new season is that the antagonist — a mole, one in all their very own — is solely not menacing sufficient. Last time, we received numerous unique areas – Baku, Dubai, Istanbul, Tehran — and plenty of unique baddies, and a few nifty executions. Plus, there was Himmat’s dashing blue-eyed boy Farooq Ali (Karan Tacker) who wears sharp fits, and follows orders, whereas cosying as much as curvaceous molls. This time round, we’re given firangi ‘honeypots’ who seduce Indian envoys to suck out labeled secrets and techniques with such a straight face that we are supposed to consider it’s the first time we’re seeing this occur. ‘Sexpionage’, anybody? Yawn.

Himmat, who spent a substantial amount of the primary season creepily spying on his teenage daughter, is given a love curiosity, and there are a few twists on this a part of the story. Aftab Shivdasani exhibits up as a fellow spy, and is earnest and hard-working, however leaves little impression. The climax is straight out of a nasty 80s Bollywood flick, and should you ever feared demise by background music, effectively, welcome to the get together.

Just when issues are about to finish, up springs our pal Farooq, preventing off 4 closely armed males. Immediately, there’s a surge of power. This is extra prefer it. More bang-bang going ahead, please, no extra kiss-kiss.