After a very long time, I can say after almost a year I watched a web series. Last week in just two days I finished watching all eight episodes of Shahid Kapoor’s new web series Farzi. This series has been made by the famous duo Raj & DK who also brought us the lovable web series The Family Man featuring Manoj Vajpayee.
Farzi talks extensively about counterfeits and the huge business of it in India; well even after ‘note bandhi’ or demonetization happened some six years back. There is no specific time period that has been mentioned in the series but by looking at pink colored 2000 rupee note one can easily assume that Farzi’s era is the post-demonetization in India.
Web Series Farzi (2023)
Cast: Shahid Kapoor (Sunny or Sandeep), Raashi Khanna (Megha), Bhuvan Arora (Firoz), Chittranjan Giri (Yasir), Regina Cassandra (Rekha), Kubbra Sait (Saira), Zakir Hussain (Pawan Gehlot), Amol Palekar (Madhav or Nanu), Kay Kay Menon (Mansoor Dalal), and Vijay Sethupathi (Michael Vedanayagam)
Directors: Raj & DK
No of Episodes: 8 (Eight)
OTT Platform: Prime Video
Synopsis of Farzi
The Father of Sunny has left him alone on a train and after that, he starts to make chalk paintings on railway platforms and earns his daily food. One fine day he finds his best friend Firoz who is going to stay with him forever in any given situation, tough or easy. On another fine day, his Nanu somehow finds him on the platform and takes him to his home.
Nanu or Madhav runs a small newspaper called Kranti and obviously owns a printing press. But Madhav’s ideology is too old and has passed its date so Kranti is not getting any sales. Yet by taking loans he keeps on running the press may be to keep the flag of his ideology going high and to keep feeding his employees.
One day the money lander gives a month’s notice to Madhav and Sunny to return the entire amount or their press is all but gone. By the way, Sunny is a born artist and to date, he sells fake paintings of known painters across the world and earns his daal-roti. But this wasn’t enough to save Nanu’s press, so he decides to print counterfeits or in other words fake Indian currencies in the very same press.
On the other hand, the government of India is also serious and getting strict to fight the counterfeits and thus the biggest handler of this racquet Mansoor Dalal keeps hiding away from the agencies. There is one Michael Vedanayagam who has only aim in his life is to crash the fake cash ecosystem and catch Mansoor Dalal at the soonest no matter how and what ways he has to choose.
At one point in time, all major characters of Farzi Sunny, Nanu, Firoz, Michael, and Mansoor arrive at the same crossroads where only one can escape and others just have to perish or just look at the person who is running away from them.
Late Review of Farzi
Just like ‘The Family Man’ seasons 1 & 2, Farzi also sometimes becomes slow (not boring though), and then suddenly it takes a fast track and you just can’t keep your eyes away from the screen. In short, it has that Raj & DK impression imprinted on it. Apart from this, there are a few similarities or common things you will find between The Family Man and Farzi but that I will not reveal assuming that you are reading this because you haven’t watched it yet.
Of course, there are negatives among many positives. One thing I can’t understand while watching spy or crime thrillers is why the main protagonist mostly the investigating officer always has a troubled married life. In The Family Man, Manoj Tiwari was having trouble in his marriage, and over here Vijay Sethupathi aka Michael is not having good marriage at all. These are just two examples but most such web series do have this storyline that the main investigating officers don’t go well with their respective families.
Because it is a thriller and one should not reveal too much while writing a review and I will also follow this unwritten rule. But I can certainly explain the performances of various actors in Farzi’s storyline. Let us start with Amol Palekar. It is really refreshing to see him on screen after so long time. As Nanu of Shahid Kapoor, he gives that calming effect on the watcher’s mind. With the age, his voice has become a bit shaky but yes he does keep us calm.
The next actor that comes to my mind is Zakir Hussain who plays the role of minister Pawan Gehlot and doesn’t mind using abusive words time and again. This is my second complaint with web series that why it has to have abusive words? I think I should now compromise with this as I don’t find that there is any way to convince the makers of any web series not to have abusive words if they are not required. Back to Zakir Hussain his chemistry with Vijay Sethupathi is not only funny but kind of loveable as well. You will see and feel that when you watch the web series.
Next in line is Bhuvan Arora who plays the role of bestie of Sunny. In many web series or even Hindi movies you will see that the friend of the main actors also catches the spotlight and Bhuvan Arora as Firoz has certainly done that. In most of the scenes, Bhuvan played like a perfect foil to Shahid Kapoor. He has his special moments too that can be seen and enjoyed only while watching the web series as I am trying to avoid the spoilers.
Kay Kay Menon, what to say about this actor? I first saw him in the Zee TV’s serial Pradhanmantri way back in the late 1990s, and ever since that, I have had a special place for him in my heart. We have recently seen him as Himmat Singh in Special Ops’ two seasons as an investigating officer and here in Farzi, he is playing the main antagonist. An actor as versatile as Kay Kay Menon is, even the role of Mansoor Dalal seems very easy to enact on screen for him. Again to keep hiding the plot, story, and twists I am not mentioning Kay Kay Menon’s special moments in this web series.
Shahid Kapoor has matured as an actor after Jab We Met and has graduated after Kabir Singh and that is visible in Farzi as well. You can see shades of Kabir Singh in this venture of Shahid Kapoor and you will not complain about this repeat. As Sunny, he looks mature young guy who wants his Nanu to get out of the financial mess and as Sandeep, he would charm you as a flirty young male. Again I will not reveal the reason why I brought up the flirty side of Shahid Kapoor’s character in this as you already know the reason. But I can say that you will love and admire Shahid Kapoor more after watching Farzi’s performance.
I am never been a fan of south Indian movies and in my entire life, I have watched only a handful of South Indian movies. But I do have a hear of Vijay Sethupathi as I am very much connected with various social media platforms where they talk about South Indian movies and their actors with too much adore. For the first time, I got a chance to see Vijay Sethupathi in Farzi and I found him very impressive. What makes him impressive is his way to speak Hindi dialogues in Tamil accents. As informed before, his chemistry with Zakir Khan is unique and very much enjoyable. With an almost flat face, Vijay Sethupathi can still give you goosebumps at certain moments.
Other actors mentioned in the Cast section of this blog have done their bit and I can’t find any actor other than the above who could get a special mention. The treatment of the web series Farzi is good and end of the each episode will lure you into watching the next immediately. If you are a working person like me then you have to hold your horses to watch the entire series in one seating.
There is a scene in this web series that has impressed me the most. If I want to reveal it with a minimum explanation then I would say that wait for the end of a sequence once Shahid Kapoor boards a junk ship that is coming to India or Alang to be very specific and once you will see you will remember me and may agree with me that why I liked that scene the most.
The final word on Farzi is that it is a good watch with some loopholes and can convince you to watch its next season as Raj & DK have kept the loose ends open at the end of the last episode. If you too have watched this series then do let me know your views in the comments section below. And if you are going to watch it after this blog, my request would remain the same.
Till we meet next time it’s Avjo from my side.
SiddTalks
21st February 2023, Tuesday
Ahmedabad
