Neeraj Pandey opens up about web series The Freelancer, says 'I hope it's...'

Known for his hard hitting projects like ‘A Wednesday’, ‘Special 26’, ‘Special Ops’ among many ors, creator and showrunner Neeraj Pandey, who is now coming up with anor riveting thriller series ‘ Freelancer’, said it’s a journey of an ex-Mumbai cop, and how he gets drawn into big b world of renditions.

series is based on book ‘A Ticket to Syria’ by Shirish Thorat. show tells story of a rescue operation of a young girl held against her will in Syria battered by war.

Talking about title of show, Neeraj told IANS: “ ‘ Freelancer’ is term a nickname that is given to Mohit Raina’s character in series. We have changed it. In book it was ' Contact'. We changed it to 'Freelancer', because it seemed like a more apt name, and also it was mentioned in book at some point of time.”

Elaborating furr on same, he said, “What we see is that ‘ Freelancer’ h a particular journey, he was an ex-Mumbai cop, and n he gets drawn into big b world of renditions. From renditions he becomes a mercenary. So it's something that you have never seen in eir films or web series. It's a very new world. And I hope it's an exciting watch for viewers.”

On what inspired him for series, Neeraj said: “It's based on a book called 'A Ticket to Syria' by Shirish Thorat. And of course its a real incident. What I loved about book was that it was so incisive and so particularly detailed, that it just takes you into this big world and goes through what that girl was going through in her days of captivity over re, and all this is indexed against efforts that were put into rescuing her from re.”

“Shirish has written this book in first person, so everything is through his lens, and based on conversations he h with girl, during captivity and all. So it is a fascinating story to tell and share,” he said.

49-year-old filmmaker said, “Ultimately we have to research, and so many things Shirish h left out when he was writing book, because he feared some backlash. But now world is shaping up, you feel more empowered, you feel more comfortable sharing some or details as well, so he kept on opening up. So, series combination is both what book is and research that we did, and stuff that Shirish h not put into book.”

If making of series took a mental toll on him, Neeraj said, “No, it is a part of job. At end of day you are telling a story. Every story is important. You have to be responsible with it and that's how you go about it.”

Speaking about ensemble cast, he said, “I personally have always believed in concept of ensembles and strong ensembles. Right from films that we did, to series we do we have always believed in that principle.”

“And over here we have got Mohit, a debutante Kashmira Pardeshi who has done a fab job, considering it was a very complex role, and whole show hinges on her and mohit, in one way. relationship y share over a long distance and one person trying to rescue or. And plus all ordeal that she has been thrown into. So I am very proud of her performance on this one. n you have Manjari Fnnis, Anupam Kher, and whole gang,” he said.

Directed by Bhav Dhulia, and Produced by Friday Storytellers, it is helmed by popular actor Mohit Raina and veteran actor Anupam Kher.

series also features Sushant Singh, Kashmira Pardeshi, John Kokken, Gauri Balaji and Navneet Malik. It will air on September 1 on Disney+ Hotstar.