By Joginder Tuteja
This week saw the arrival of Special Ops 1.5, which is prequel to the first season which had created quite some waves when released last year. In fact till the time Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta story arrived, the Neeraj Pandey created and Shivam Nair directed web series was the best web series ever to have out in the Indian web space. This is the reason why there were good expectations from the prequel, which should ideally have been titled Special Ops 0.5 since it was going back in time!
Yet again, Kay Kay Menon has impressed all over again, and a lot of prosthetics and VFX have come into play to show his younger avtar as Himmat Singh. With Vinay Pathak in a key role, the web series is exciting, though in parts, unlike the first season which was thrilling right through. Of course, action is the mainstay of this mini series. However, the kind of tout entertainment that the first season brought with it isn't uniform in the second season. That said, it's still a decent web series at Disney+Hotstar and can be given a comfortable watch.
Coming soon
Thrills, suspense, action, drama - all of this and more are in the offering this coming week, what with one major movie and two web series coming in quick succession. The biggest of them all is the original movie Dhamaka, and then there are two major web series, Matsya Kaand and Your Honour 2.
Let's talk about Dhamaka first. This is actually the first original film that has been made for OTT with a major star. Though Akshay Kumar has announced the web series The End, Ajay Devgn is shooting for his web series Rudra and Shahid Kapoor too has shot for his web series with Raj & DK, all of these are yet to be released. However, no one has made a movie so far and Kartik Aaryan has gone ahead and done it in record time. The Ram Madhvani directed film went on floors last year in December and then was shot in record time of just 10 days.
Now that the film is ready after extensive post production, Dhamaka is ready to explode on Netflix. Promo of the film, which is set during one eventful day, has created curiosity already and for the actor who has delivered quite a few hits and superhits as a lover boy, it is going to be a different Kartik Aaryan who would be seen on screen.
Then there is Matsya Kaand arriving on MX Player and this one sees the coming together of two Ravis - Ravii Dubey and Ravi Kishan. A story about a conman who is also a master of disguise, Matsya Kaand comes close on the heels of Ek Thi Begum 2 which was also a character based web series, and had emerged as a hit. This one has Ravii Dubey in an altogether new avtar, who is being chased by Ravi Kishan. Promo of Matsya Kaand promises a fun 'masala' entertainer which is made for the masses, something that MX Player specialises in.
Another big one is Your Honour 2. What's special about this Jimmy Sheirgill starrer is the fact that it was the flagship offering of Sony LIV when its OTT platform was introduced to the audiences with much fanfare last year. This is what had diverted attention towards the channel which has been delivering wonderful content consistently, the latest being Tabbar.
Coming back to Your Honour 2, this one has E Niwas calling the shots all over again with Jimmy Sheirgill returning as the upright judge, who has quite a few skeletons in his cupboard as well. While many of the actors from the first season are returning here, the entry of Gulshan Grover on the scene as the bad man is only making the second season look bigger and better.
Release dates
Matsya Kaand - 18th November - MX Player - Ravii Dubey, Ravi Kishan & Piyush Mishra
Dhamaka - 19th November - Netflix
Your Honour 2 - 19th November