An artist born to a tough childhood aspires to make it big and earn a fortune enough to buy all his dreams. He stumbles upon his talent of printing fake notes that are so close to original that even the top technology can create. He comes under the radar of a deadly syndicate and in no time finds himself involved in an international-level crime. It is the rise of a bad man with the fire of revenge in his eyes.

Raj & D.K. as creators since the very beginning has found humanity in the darkest corner of the world. It is their writing that tries to give the antagonist a story that not only keeps him/her in one tone part but develop a character that speaks to the audience. Be it Raji in The Family Man or multiple characters in The Shor In The City, they all are bad but it is several things in life that have pushed them to the wall. This time around with Farzi, they don’t shape a saviour and through him create a villain who will eventually unravel himself as we progress, but the other way around.

The aforementioned writing technique of shaping a villain with utmost conviction does two things. One it helps elevate the protagonist and his quest for the antagonist and two it creates a three-dimensional world that exists beyond what’s in the frame. In Farzi, the creator duo with Sita Menon and Suman Kumar in their writing room place the bad man in the centre and weave a tale around him. Of course, he doesn’t begin badly but it is his eventual rise to becoming a man loose with rage in his eye to destroy everyone who comes in his way no matter what side of the law they stand.

Sunny (Shahid Kapoor) is an interesting character that has spent most of his existence in South Bombay, right beside the most iconic spot of the city, the CSMT station. He was abandoned by his father, raised by a righteous maternal grandfather, and pressured by the conditioning of his socio-economic status. Every trauma has subjected him to aspire for everything bigger and out of his reach, as his friend Afroz says, “tujhe woh chahiye kyuki tujhe pata hai vo tere aukaat ke bahar Hain,” when he tries to publically date a rich girl. When he realises he has a talent that can bring big money but is a crime, he doesn’t even blink twice because he is not interested in calculating the risk, which will blur his aspiration.

It is interesting to see the writing trying to use the first season as an introduction to the world of Farzi and the story of his motivation to become a rouge killer. The idea of defining their protagonist Sunny’s entire existence as Farzi (fake) is very interesting. He has a brother he once found at the railway station he was abandoned by his father. The love he gives and gets is all farzi and add to it the fact that he feels all of that is real and reality is boring. He is pitched against a cop Michael (Vijay) who is literally the antithesis of any police officer who you have seen so far. He cannot drive, rarely even fires a bullet, is as reckless as it gets, and has a traumatic personal life.

Farzi gets the tonality just right. It has characters that are interesting and feel believable. Raj and DK even play very smartly when they give you a hint that they are creating an espionage universe when they bring in the biggest undercover officer from their kitty with his most secretive agent. Keep your ears open if you don’t want to miss these teases and Easter eggs.

The camera work in Farzi is needless to say very well and so is the set design and costume which show the characters progressing quite subtly. Dialogues don’t seem like written to read but feel like a conversation and that connects a viewer the most.

PS: The show goes too much into the details of printing fake currency, it is almost like watching a YouTube tutorial and learning. Good research but also risky.

Cast: Shahid Kapoor, Vijay Sethupathi, Bhuvan Arora, Amol Palekar, Raashi Khanna, Kay Kay Menon, and ensemble.

Creator: Raj Nidimoru & Krishna D.K.

Director: Raj & D.K.

Streaming On: Amazon Prime Video.

Language: Hindi (with subtitles).

Runtime: 8 Episodes Around 60 Minutes Each.

(With inputs from agencies)