Farzi stands strong on gripping performances and direction that has an excellent hold over the story and storytelling. But! The story has loopholes and if it wouldn’t have been handled with care by this brilliant duo, Farzi wouldn’t have been a good show.
I am assuming that you have seen The Family Man and Special Ops because everyone has. Farzi, as I like to call it, is a show cut out from the same template. The only difference here is that the spotlight is on the criminals, not the cops. Does that mean the storylines are the same? No, not at all. Farzi is about two friends, Sunny (Shahid Kapoor) and Firoz (Bhuvan Arora), and their struggle to beat poverty, mainly to save their grandfather’s press which due to changing times has made no profit and is about to shut down.
Though the press becomes a reason, Sunny starts enjoying this easy money-making. How is he doing it? By printing fake notes. While Mansoor Dalal (Kay Kay Menon) is the king of the business, his fake notes aren’t perfect. On the other hand, Sunny and Firoz are designing perfect fake notes that are difficult to recognise. As soon as Mansoor gets to know about the competitors, he, in corporate terms, “acquire” them. You know what I mean, right? Now, there is no going back for Sunny and Firoz as they have no option to keep doing for lifetime what they had planned to do just once or twice.
From here, a typical story begins. Our hero gets trapped, cops are on the lookout, the villain wants to kill and in all the chaos, Sunny’s grandfather gets killed and then the hero goes on a killing spree to get to the real villain in the story. Nothing extraordinary or wow about the story. It looks like the makers had planned season 2 of Farzi even before writing season 1 of the series which is why if you carefully look at the progress of the story, it only introduced you to the main characters and told you their backstories. Storywise, it really wasn’t a great show. But yes, when you speak of performances, they are Farzi’s saviours.
Kay Kay Menon and his English are the cherry on the cake. Vijay Sethupathi has been given a typical cop character, a loyal and dedicated policeman whose personal life is a mess. Only because it was him, you wanted to watch more of Michael. Shahid Kapoor, to my surprise, was really good in Farzi. Not that I am judging his acting skills. I truly feel that he has also been typecasted which is why his performances have become repetitive. Take Kabir Singh, Badmaash Company, or Kaminey for example. His character in all the action films or “rich vs poor” plots look the same. I actually was hesitating to watch Farzi because I didn’t want to watch the same Kabir Singh rage in Farzi. I am glad that I was proved wrong. This OTT Shahid Kapoor, though brings in a little Bollywood with him, is a “refreshing artist” after a long time.
I cannot not mention Bhuvan Arora here. He wasn’t just Sunny’s rock in Farzi but is also Farzi’s strong support system. This friendship is what was truly original in Farzi when compared to The Family Man and Special Ops. I hope they don’t sacrifice him in season 2 to emotionally manipulate the audience. Fingers crossed!
And yes, how can I forget? How annoying is this Megha Vyas! Totally, an unnecessary character. This is where the story got weak and predictable to be honest. If avoided, the story could have been given good and interesting twists. Megha Vyas, instead of intelligent, comes across as oversmart and a wannabe, certainly not someone who is passionate about her job. It would be good to see her die in the next season. LOL!
Streaming On: Amazon Prime Video