'Farzi' review | Shahid Kapoor and Vijay Sethupathi are fantastic in this crime drama

With 'Farzi', Shahid Kapoor makes his OTT debut and Vijay Sethupathi makes his Hindi web-series debut.

The first thought I had upon learning about the teaming up of Shahid Kapoor and Vijay Sethupathi was that it’d be good for our eyes. We’d be able to see different kinds of anger and frustration on the screen and, maybe, even have a few laughs while we are going down that road because the series is coming from the makers of The Family Man. While Farzi ably delivers on the part that deals with rage and emotional turmoil, it doesn’t take comedy seriously. It's probably my fault, though. I wanted Michael (Sethupathi) to be as funny and smart as Srikant Tiwari (Manoj Bajpayee).

But Michael is more like a guy who’s prone to making jokes when he’s in the mood for it rather than a person who’s inherently quick-witted. And Sunny (Kapoor), as an artist who makes fake currency look authentic, always seems to be on edge. In times of anxiety and helplessness, however, Kapoor gives his best face to the camera.

Sunny is afraid of two things mainly — of getting caught by the cops and disappointing his grandfather (played by Amol Palekar) who raised him. Nevertheless, it doesn’t stop him from venturing into an area where the lines between morality and immorality begin to blur. And since there’s a friend who’s willing to stick with him through thick and thin, he has one less thing to worry about. That friend is Firoz (Bhuvan Arora) who also tosses in an idea or two every now and again. But it’s mostly Sunny who captains the ship.

The first season of Farzi has eight episodes and each of them runs anywhere between forty and sixty-five minutes. It, sometimes, feels like Raj & DK have expanded the story of a movie to fit the length of a series. There are many bits of information that are interesting on the surface, but they don’t work like a cracker. The married couple Michael and Rekha (Regina Cassandra) live separately and, though, the former shows an inclination towards setting everything right, he doesn’t put in the sort of effort that’s required to save a souring relationship.

Michael is also an alcoholic who appears to have a problem with letting people go. He even tries to build a bridge to get to know his son better, but the latter prefers to be with his mother. He’s not a bad father in particular. Well, he’s just an absent father and that explains why he doesn’t know anything about his son. Okay, absence cannot be forgiven. So, he’s a bad parent, after all. His assistant says he’s great at his job, but nobody ever says he’s equally great at home. Perhaps, he’ll have to live with that.

And his only aim is to nab Mansoor (Kay Kay Menon), the kingpin of the industry that thrives on counterfeit money. But Mansoor doesn’t think of Michael as his arch-enemy; he has other drums to beat. And he ropes in Sunny to expand his criminal empire. Do you now see the ties that bind the show? They are quite simple to follow. But they are also unsurprising. Despite the moments and chases that are designed to hold your breath, they don’t leave you with the feeling of having witnessed a spectacle.

There are several pauses and silences that still make Farzi watchable. However, they belong to the department of acting and not writing. Menon seems to delight himself in the role of a suave businessman who likes to threaten and entertain his guests in the same breath. And then there’s Raashii Khanna as an eager rookie who wants to get away from her desk job to prove her worth. Khanna, too, is a primary cast member and, in fact, she advances the plot in more ways than one. Her scenes with Sethupathi are dipped in the ink of sincerity and admiration.

The work atmosphere that Michael, as a boss, champions may not necessarily be all fun and games. He’s not Michael Scott from The Office, but he definitely radiates positive energy. His subordinates respect his intelligence and he never holds himself back from congratulating the people who come up with original ideas. He also reels off lies while talking to a politician he hates without breaking into a smirk. Sethupathi’s eclectic personality partly helps to define the show. But Farzi cannot depend fully on its actors to make a safe landing.

Some conversations and scenes are brilliant, too, such as the one where a well-wisher warns Sunny to stay away from greed as it would make even wants turn into needs. In places like these, I wondered about the different directions that Farzi could have gone. Also, the finale opens the doors for season two instead of resolving the existing tensions first. But it’s not a proper cliffhanger, either. Ah, isn’t that sad?