Neeraj Pandey: It has lost novelty for me

Still from `The Freelancer: The Conclusion`

Three projects can be quite a handful, but Neeraj Pandey is not complaining. The director recently wrapped up the Georgia schedule of Special Ops 2. His Ajay Devgn-Tabu starrer Auron Mein Kahan Dum Tha is currently in post-production. But for this week, these two projects have taken a backseat as he focuses on The Freelancer: The Conclusion. While the Mohit Raina-led web series' first part premièred in September, the second part will drop online on December 15. Asked about the new trend of releasing a show in two volumes, the creator-showrunner says, "That is a call Disney+ Hotstar and we took to maintain the interest around the series for a longer time. The platform tried that with their previous [shows], and those were successful."

Neeraj Pandey

The thriller is based on Shirish Thorat's book, A Ticket to Syria, which told the story of female protagonist Zahi as she tries to escape from Syria. However, with The Freelancer, Pandey has tweaked the narrative and centred it on Raina's character Avinash Kamath. "The idea was to create something that is more franchisable. [We wanted to] tell the story in a way that when this episode in his life gets over, we still have room to continue it as a franchise, if the audiences love it," he reasons.

Bollywood has seen its fair share of franchises. Filmmakers have now gone a step ahead, creating their own cinematic universes. So, if you have Rohit Shetty building his cop universe, Yash Raj Films is giving Hindi cinema a spy universe. Does Pandey have any plans of creating a spy universe as well? Raina's character from The Freelancer joining forces with Special Ops' Himmat Singh, perhaps? "They won't cross paths," he says promptly. "Everyone is doing it. So, I don't have any interest in them [The Freelancer and Special Ops] coming together. It's a good trend. But it has lost its novelty for me."

In his 15-year run so far, the director has been the mind behind A Wednesday (2008), Special 26 (2013), and Khakee: The Bihar Chapter (2022). Clearly, thrillers are his forte. But Pandey disagrees. "I'm only chasing good stories. Otherwise, why would I make a sports film? You want to tell a story like [MS Dhoni: The Untold Story] - a person coming from humble beginnings and making it big through hard work and determination. I'm always fascinated by stories, not the genre."