New Delhi, Jan 23 (PTI) Actor Emraan Hashmi says he is not surprised that his “pulpy” thriller “Taskaree: The Smuggler’s Web” has become the first Indian series to debut at the number one spot on Netflix’s global top-10 non-English TV list in the first week of its release.
Created by filmmaker Neeraj Pandey and co-directed by Raghav Jairath, the show focuses on the high-stakes world of airport customs and how its officers serve the nation while staying out of the spotlight. Hashmi plays one such officer pitted against a seasoned smuggler.
“You just hope for everyone to like your show. The intention was for it to kind of work in a big way in India… I got a call from my manager and he’s like ‘It’s gone global and it’s reached the number one spot so fast. So, I asked him, ‘Can you say this again’. I’m still processing it.
“But it’s great… It’s very pulpy, thrilling and a fast watch. It’s everything that a show should be. I’m not very surprised that everyone’s enjoying the show across the globe. I know after this show, people are going to see airports in a very different light,” Hashmi told PTI.
“Taskaree”, which premiered on the streaming platform on January 14, is among Netflix’s growing slate of Indian breakouts globally, following the success of Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s “Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar”, Aryan Khan’s “The Ba****ds of Bollywood” and “IC-814: The Kandahar Hijack”, created by Anubhav Sinha.
According to Pandey, the idea was to tell a unique story with “Taskaree”.
“It should be about something that the viewers have not seen. It should be a new world. That newness, I believe, is the thing that all storytellers look out for. And that’s exactly what we chased with this,” he said.
Tanya Bami, Series Head, Netflix India, said their team was “cautiously optimistic” about the show’s potential to travel beyond India through the platform, which has over 300 million paid subscribers in over 190 countries.
“We all knew the intensity of the idea and the scope that it had. It’s a never-seen-before world and thriller. Neeraj brings these things alive like nobody else can with the flair and simplicity of a narrative that everyone across borders can watch. And when you add Emraan as a nice ‘tadka’ (extra flavour), then it really lands. We knew that there is something special in here and just needed the audience verification which we got with a lot of love from all over the world,” Bhami said.
For Hashmi, whose debut streaming show was Netflix’s “Bard of Blood” in 2019, it was a dream come true collaboration.
“There’s never been a piece made on a story that revolves around our custom officers. I think that was a novelty that kind of drew me in. Obviously, I am also working with Neeraj and Netflix again. It was like a dream team. And you’d be a fool to say no to something like this.
“There is a saying, ‘You had me at hello’. Neeraj called me and said there’s a show but he had me on that show already. It was just the icing on the cake when he sent me the entire four episodes. I was like blown away. I finished reading it in one go. Very rarely you get something that’s so engrossing through and through. And that just translates. When you see the show, there’s not a dull moment. And that’s exactly what I saw on paper.” For Pandey, known for movies such as “A Wednesday”, “Special 26” and show “Special Ops”, Hashmi was the one and only choice for the role of Arjun Meena, a customs officer at the Mumbai airport.
“We didn’t even have a second option. Both belonged to Emraan. It was for him to just go through the material and respond. He was our first and only choice. And I’m glad that we could do this together.” Bami said Indian content has been doing consistently better on the platform and “Taskaree” just tops it by being at number one on Netflix’s non-English chart.
“Last year, literally every single week, we had an Indian film or series in the global top ten. So, it’s heartening for me that we’re able to take our stories to the world. We’re able to take our storytellers to the world… The fact that it’s number one in 10 countries and in the top ten of 23 plus countries, it is amazing for us to have this kind of a value to a story which is mounted with such ambition.
When asked whether Indian content had the potential to go globally viral the way Korean shows and movies like “Squid Game” and “K-pop Demon Hunters”, Bami said India has such diversity that there will be many more stories that are uniquely local but global in appeal “I would say with all humility, and we love the Korean content, but why must we try to be like someone else? We are best when we are ourselves. Why shouldn’t we aim higher? Why wouldn’t we dip into all of that and actually enrich the ecosystem, build newer voices, and have great mentors like Neeraj,” she said. PTI BK RB RB
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