Filmmaker Neeraj Pandey, who has teamed up with actor Emraan Hashmi for Netflix thriller series titled Taskaree: The Smugglers Web, said it was challenging to work on a family show with the actor given his romantic persona.
Taskaree: The Smugglers Web is created by Pandey, known for acclaimed thrillers like A Wednesday!, Baby, Special Ops and Special 26.
Speaking at the trailer launch event of the show held in Mumbai recently, Pandey said that making a family-friendly series with Hashmi was quite a challenge, but added that the team had successfully pulled it off and audiences would enjoy the result.
“Making a family show with Emraan Hashmi is quite a challenge. We’ve managed to pull that and I think you guys will love it.”
Speaking at the same event, Hashmi, who early in his career had earned the tag of a “serial kisser”, joked that he kept things in check on screen and revealed that his suggestion to include a song in the series was politely turned down by Pandey.
“I told Neeraj sir let’s have a song in each episode but he almost told me to get out and I could have lost the show. Then I thought we can go ahead without the songs, but the background music is very good in this, I hope this would be okay (for my fans),” Hashmi said.
“There are two beautiful women in the show, so, of course, there will be a love story. I’m in the show and there will be no love story?” Hashmi added.
Talking about the show, Pandey said that working on the series was exciting, as it offered a chance to explore the unseen world of smuggling.
“The world was very interesting, exciting, it was an unseen world. We were a tight team and all focused on delivering the best story. It was a fun ride for all of us.”
“It is a four-hour story, so I had to keep it engaging content wise and that was the challenge. It is an interesting and different format of storytelling,” Pandey added.
The ensemble cast features Sharad Kelkar, Zoya Afroz, Nandish Sandhu, Amruta Khanvilkar, Freddy Daruwala, Anuja Sathe, Anurag Sinha, Jameel Khan, Virendra Saxena, and Hemant Kher.
Produced by Friday Storytellers, Taskaree: The Smugglers Web marks Neeraj’s third Netflix series after Khakee: The Bihar Chapter and Khakee: The Bengal Chapter.
Taskaree: The Smugglers Web is set to premiere on Netflix on January 14.
