Farzi (Prime Video Series)
Creators -Raj and Dk
Cast- Shahid Kapoor, Bhuvan Arora, Vijay Sethupathi, Kay Kay Menon, Rashi Khanna, Amol Palekar, Zakir Hussain , Regina Cassendra, Kubra Sait
This crime thriller revolves around the high stakes and dark world of counterfeit currency with an anti hero who is desperate to make it big and a police officer who is hell bent on busting this business.
It is mostly engaging and thrives on its dark humour and its star cast.But bringing in additional angles of emotional/ relationship drama, rich poor social commentary etc unfortunately adds length and hinders pace of what could otherwise have been a sharp and crisp drama.
The story, when it starts off, felt a bit cliched and the first 3 episodes give a been-there-seen-that vibe. A broken hero who’s desperate to make it big, has an inherent talent, learns quickly, et al.
All these tropes are tried and tested which don’t feel new at all.
The story picks pace after 3 episodes, gets better, more engrossing but the constant peeve remains the meandering narrative.
It’s the signature treatment of Raj and Dk which comes to the rescue and ensures it remains mostly engaging. The humor works like a charm. While Family man didn’t have much of it, here it has been served in sizeable portions.The beauty of it, is that it works, even though it’s frequently used.
The integration of dark humor into the character of Michael played by Vijay Sethupathi works partly due to the actor’s timing and partly due to the effective writing and witty dialogues.
Shahid Kapoor is terrific as Sunny and gets meatier portions. The fact that even the cliched portions didn’t bore me is due to his performance.He, I feel, is at his best when he plays such antihero-hero roles. It fits him like a glove. Sunny’s character, feels nothing new for him, but the way he goes on with his job is commendable. His interactions with Firoz played by Bhuvan Arora are such fun to watch.
Rashi Khanna plays the typical heroine role with some integration into the plot line of the show. But I wonder, when will makers stop adding marriage subplots to the female characters? It’s age-old, stale, and unimpressive.
Kay Kay Menon is super impressive and Bhuvan Arora is a pleasure to watch.
All said, the action is clunky and doesn’t have that finesse of what was seen in Family man. Even if the protagonist is a common man, there’s a lot of scope for better-designed choreography, but it feels lazy and more like an afterthought rather than having a properly choreographed action sequence.
The series feels extremely self-indulgent with 8 episodes of 1 hr each, making it a chore to watch. The content doesn’t warrant a 1 hour runtime and prods along lazily. .It would have been better with a run time of 40-45 min each episode or or may have winded up in 6 episodes of an hour each. Some of the subplots could have been cut off and the series would have been shaper and more impactful.
Over all,it is engaging enough that you can’t shun it but lengthier than what should have been.
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