Taskeree: The Smuggler’s Web
Starring Emraan Hashmi, Sharad Kelkar, Nandish Sandhu, Anurag Sinha, Amruta Khanvilkar, Zoya Afroz
Produced and directed by Neeraj Pandey
Neeraj Pandey’s Taskeree: The Smuggler’s Web on Netflix is mildly addictive and wildly filmy in a very spaghetti Western sort of way. There are lots of shootouts in foreign locations, characters who go all out to be honest with their jobs, and others who go the other way, and some who seem to be going West but catch hold of themselves just in time.
This makes the writing (Neeraj Pandey, Vipul K Rawal) sound more intricate and cliff-hanging than it actually is. Taskaree moves in not-so-mysterious waves. It swipes the world of smugglers, condensing their activities to an organization run by a mysterious Chaudhary (Sharad Kelkar, for once bringing nothing to the table) and his support group comprising an Uncle and two executives, one of them Suresh Kaka, being played by the talented Jameel Khan, who is the only one smart enough to smell a moll in their midst.
The way the rest of the billionaires’ gang gets taken in, I wondered how they ever got so rich in the first place.
The tensions at the airports are sturdily created. I wonder if the series was shot at real airports. If not, hats off to the set designers. The tension on the scenes of the customized crime feels real but risible. The constant tick-tock background music (Advait Nemlekar) suggests a sense of video-game fun while the customs team, looking like they are auditioning for a Rohit Shetty actioner, does its job of nabbing smugglers with modest stealth.
Hashmi, who seems to be on a roll, brings a gravitas to the giggly thrills. As Arjun Meena, he is in charge and always open to challenges. His team is in terrific shape. I especially liked Amruta Khanvilkar, who kicks ass in one sequence like Lara Croft, although she is half Croft’s size.
There is much to be enjoyed, if not enough to be appreciated, in Taskaree. The brief to the team seems to be, ‘Let’s make customs officers and their job far more exciting than it actually is.’
No harm in that. As long as you are not looking for anything fiercely authentic. There is adventure, intrigue, humour, and sassiness. Oh yes, there is also a romance between our custom-made hero and a beautiful khabree, Priya (Zoya Afroz), who, under more realistic circumstances, would have ended up dead in a drain.
Look out for Freddy Daruwala as a suave smuggler who ends up stranded in the desert with no immediate chance of rescue.
Luckily for us, Taskeree never allows us to feel stranded.
