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INTERVIEW: Neeraj Pandey opens up about Special Ops 1.5 and the season 2, Vikram Vedha and the Baby universe
Neeraj Pandey in a candid conversation with Pinkvilla, opens up about the reason of making Special Ops 1.5, his plans of spinning a sequel to it next year and a lot more. Read details
A week back, Neeraj Pandey announced the next season of his espionage thriller, Special Ops, and rather than pitching it as a prequel, he decided to call it Special Ops 1.5. This caught everyone’s attention, as it was one of it’s kind for the digital world in India. Prod Neeraj on what prompted him to call it 1.5 and he explains, “Following the feedback on Special Ops, we felt that there should be another interesting way to tell the story moving forward. There were a lot of story options, but the one that caught my attention was the way the audience responded to the 2001 portion of Kay Kay’s (Menon) character.”
He further adds, “The idea was to dwell deep into his life and tell how Himmat Singh became the guy that he is today. Instead of taking the conventional route, we have got into a derivative of season one, with this 3-episode mini series (of 50 minute each), which will tell you more about the protagonist.” Neeraj informs that Special Ops 1.5 will go on the floors next month and will premiere digitally in the second half of 2021. “It’s going to be a multiple location series with shoots scheduled in India and Abroad. Though it’s a production nightmare right now considering the world that we are in, there is no scaling down of the project.”
Instead of taking the conventional route, we have got into a derivative of season one, with this 3-episode mini series
Neeraj Pandey on why he called it season 1.5
Interestingly, this isn’t the first time that Neeraj decided to make a spin off based on the character of a successful stint. The filmmaker attempted to make a standalone film, Naam Shabana, based on Taapsee Pannu’s character from Akshay Kumar fronted Baby. Ask him if it’s more feasible to make a universe with multi-character spin offs on the digital world and he answers, “It’s feasible on both mediums, just because I didn’t do it (with Baby) doesn’t mean it’s not feasible. We had a good experience on Naam Shabana and for some reason, we didn’t decide to take that franchise forward. But it can happen in both formats.”
Neeraj confirms that The Himmat Story will be followed by a conventional season 2. “The second season goes on the floors early next year and we will start writing it towards the middle of this year. It’s poised to begin around January and premiere towards the second half of 2022,” he smiles. Apart from Special Ops, Neeraj Pandey is also producing the Hindi adaptation of Tamil Hit, Vikram Vedha. Neeraj keeps it short, “We will announce something on that project very soon.”
Let the rumours be there... we will announce something very soon
Neeraj Pandey on Vikram Vedha
While Saif Ali Khan has confirmed being a part of the project playing the character of cop, Vikram, there looms uncertainty about who is playing the gangster, Vedha. “Let the rumours be there, but like I said, we will announce something very soon.” Buzz is, Hrithik Roshan will step into Vijay Sethupathi’s shoes to play the dreaded gangster. Apart from the above-mentioned projects, Neeraj is also gearing up to direct Ajay Devgn in the two-part period drama, Chanakya. Stay tuned to Pinkvilla to know what Neeraj said about Chankaya, as we bring an update on that project shortly.
ALSO READ: Neeraj Pandey reveals Taapsee Pannu achieved success based on her talent and right choices
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