New Special Ops Trailer Introduces the RAW Team in Hunt for Terrorist in Neeraj Pandey’s Hotstar Series

Less than 12 hours before its release, Special Ops, an action thriller series from creator, co-writer, and director Neeraj Pandey (Special 26), has gotten a new trailer. The show will release on Hotstar, soon to be rebranded as Disney+ Hotstar. Special Ops follows a RAW agent named Himmat Singh's (Kay Kay Menon) 19-year manhunt for a terrorist called Ikhlaq Khan, who only exists in Himmat's eyes, according to everyone around him. The new Special Ops trailer introduces Himmat's team, which includes Farooq Ali (Karan Tacker), Ruhani Syed Khan (Meher Vij), Avinash (Muzzamil Ibrahim), Juhi Kashyap (Saiyami Kher), and Balakrishna Reddy (Vipul Gupta).

The second two-minute Special Ops trailer — just like the first — begins by recreating the 2001 terrorist attack on Parliament of India. It then delves into the fictional, as Himmat posits that a sixth terrorist was the mastermind behind the five. (No, Ikhlaq Khan is not a variant of Afzal Guru, who was controversially convicted for his role in said attack in real life.) It then runs through Himmat's team: Farooq has been in the UAE for a decade, Ruhani, Avinash, and Balakrishna are experts in close-quarters combat, and Juhi is a silent assassin. Later, Farooq claims he's found Ikhlaq Khan, to which Himmat says he wants him dead no matter the collateral damage.

In addition to Menon (Shaurya), Tacker (Ek Hazaaron Mein Meri Behna Hai), Vij (Secret Superstar), Ibrahim (Dhokha), Kher (Mirzya), and Gupta (K. Street Pali Hill), Special Ops also stars Divya Dutta (Irada), Sajjad Delafrooz (Tiger Zinda Hai), Sana Khan (Wajah Tum Ho), Anuj Sharma (Padmaavat), and Vinay Pathak (Bheja Fry). Shivam Nair (Naam Shabana) served as director alongside Pandey. Special Ops is a production of Friday Storytellers, a division of Pandey-run Friday Filmworks.

For Hotstar, Special Ops will be the first original series in 2020, after six last year: the hagiographical docu-series on Dhoni, Roar of the Lion; the well-acted but poorly-written eponymous remake of Criminal Justice; the intolerable Nagesh Kukunoor-created crime drama, City of Dreams; a cringe-worthy eponymous remake of The Office; an improbable eponymous remake of Israeli thriller Hostages; and a poor scene-by-scene copy of Doctor Foster in Out of Love.

Special Ops is out March 17 on Hotstar in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Malayalam, Marathi, and Kannada.

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