Neeraj Pandey’s ‘Special Ops’ receives ‘Hot’ response on Hotstar
Barely two months after the launch of Hotstar Specials presents Special Ops created by Neeraj Pandey, the spy action thriller has catapulted as one of the biggest digital shows in India. This fast-paced 8-episode series is based on the role of Indian intelligence in a series of real terror attacks that India faced over the last 19 years. Lauded for its crisp narrative and stellar casting, millions of Indians have watched Special Ops making the success of the show comparable to his biggest blockbuster movies. Directed by Neeraj Pandey and Shivam Nair who are both respected Bollywood filmmakers, the show features an ensemble cast including Kay Kay Menon, Vinay Pathak, Karan Tacker, Sana Khan, Sajjad Delafrooz, Meher Vij, Divya Dutta, Saiyami Kher, Muzammil Ibrahim, Vipul Gupta, Parmeet Sethi and Sharad Kelkar amongst others – all of whom have received critical acclaim for their performances.
Most notedly, imminent personalities came forward to shower their admiration for the show. Hrithik Roshan, Taapsee Pannu, Manoj Bajpayee, Anupam Kher as well as cricketer Shikhar Dhawan amongst others all took to social media to applaud the storytelling of the show. Director Neeraj Pandey said, “When we started working on the story of Special Ops we knew it was something unique, and to receive this kind of love and feedback – it’s extremely overwhelming. A story of this scale and magnitude was never before produced in India in this format and I’m glad that it worked out perfectly well. Creative collaboration between Hotstar Specials & Friday Storytellers has been a delight and we’re realizing the true reach and impact of the digital space. From what I have been told, it is one of the biggest shows of 2020 on the OTT. I would say the true success of the show comes from the numerous requests from the audiences asking for a sequel”
Producer Shital Bhatia added “We are extremely proud of our partnership with Hotstar Specials! They shared our vision for the show in terms of creativity and scale and the outcome is the result of this common belief. We are humbled with the response from the audiences and this will encourage us to keep raising the bar! My compliments to the team of Hotstar Specials & Friday Storytellers for creating this magic.”
Says Actor Kay Kay Menon who essays the role of Himmat Singh, “It’s a wonderful feeling knowing that millions of people across India have watched Special Ops. I have never seen such quantum of love and appreciation for my work in movies as I have got for this character – it’s out of this world and I feel like we have created history! My sincere thanks to all the viewers, for all the varied degrees of love that we have received!!
Hotstar Specials presents Special Ops is based on the role of Indian intelligence in a series of real terror attacks that India faced over the last 19 years starting with the 2001 attack on Indian Parliament, and covers several other events including 26/11 and Kashmir terror attacks. It is about the chase for the single mastermind behind these attacks – making it the longest manhunt in Indian Intelligence for India’s deadliest enemy.