New Delhi: 'The Freelancer', based on the book 'A Ticket To Syria' is another master piece by Director Neeraj Pandey. The story is based on an ex-cop turned mercenary 'Avinash Kamath', who takes on the difficult task of rescuing 'Aliya', a newly married girl trapped in war-torn Syria against the backdrop of growing ISIS terrorism. The series, which stars Anupam Kher, Mohit Raina, Kashmira Pardeshi and Navneet Malik in prominent roles, happens to be an edge-of-the-seat thriller.
In a chat with ABP Live over a video call, Navneet Malik spoke about his character and all that he did to prepare for the role. Additionally, he spoke highly of Neeraj Pandey saying that he had "goosebumps" when he started directing the show.
Explaining the reason behind naming the series 'The Freelancer', Navneet said, "Actually, the story is all about escaping a girl from Syria and the freelancer is helping her escape. So, the story is revolving around that character."
He then spoke about his role in the series and said, "I am playing a negative role. His name is Mohsin. I am the one who is creating all this conflict in the series," but did not reveal much to keep the anticipation alive.
Navneet himself seemed to have thoroughly enjoyed the process of shooting and he could not wait for the series to release. Talking about what can the audience expect from it, he said, "There are a lot of emotions involved in the story. It's going to be really a big roller-coaster and one of the biggest series on Hotstar. Since Neeraj Sir is making this, so it's going to be realistic so that people can connect more with the storyline."
Navneet was over the moon when he got a chance to work with Neeraj Pandey, He discussed what all he did to prep uo for the role saying, "When I got this role, I read the whole script at once and found that this character has a lot of shades. It's going from positive to negative. So, the journey to create this was a big task for me, becasue when you portray any character which has so many different shades, you have to be very precise about that feeling like whatever you are portraying right now as a good guy or a bad guy- there is a very thin line. If you cross the line, maybe audience will not connect with you. So, this was a big task, but Neeraj Sir really helped me out with everything. The production team was superb and they provided me with everything that I needed to prepare this role."
Talking about his experience working with Neeraj Pandey, Navneet was all in praise for him and said, "He is a legendary director. I really wanted to work with him when I started my acting journey. I made a list of directors I wanted to work with and Neeraj Sir was one of them. When I got this role, I was like 'Now, my life is sorted' because Neeraj Sir is there. I don't have to do anything. I had to reach to this level, and now I am just surrendering myself to this journey."
"We were shooting in Morocco, and when Neeraj Sir started directing, the very first day, I got goosebumps. The whole day was really joyful. He is a legendary director because he knows how to get into the nerves of an actor and take out the acting from him or her. It's just magic. As a person also he is just amazing. He is so calm. whenever you talk to him, he will talk to you polietely. His aura is so strong and I was just blessed that I got to work with him," he further went on to say.
'The Freelancer' is streaming on Hotstar from September 1.