Farzi Review: Shahid Kapoor, Vijay Sethupathi’s series is an intriguing crime drama with solid performances
Counterfeiting is the second oldest industry in the world and Raj and DK’s Farzi is all about it. The Amazon Prime Video original series may be about Farsi references, but the concept is completely original. The makers of The Family Man have once again enthralled its audience with an intriguing plot with solid performances, funny one-liners and thrilling scenes.
Farzi is about the artist and his art. Disillusioned by the rich-poor divide and failing to keep Nanu’s (Amol Balekar) revolutionary magazine Kranti Patrika operational, Sunny (Shahid Kapoor) decides to take matters into his own hands and starts creating counterfeit money with help. His friend Frosin (Buon Arora). They create fake currency that is so close to the original that you can’t tell the difference.
Meanwhile, Michael (Vijay Sethupathi), a cop, and Mansoor Dalal (K K Menon), the kingpin of fakes, are involved in their own cat-and-mouse game. Soon Sunny’s art meets its connoisseur in Mansoor, who soon implicates him in his cartel, making him complicit in a global mega-crime. At any given moment, Sunny’s needs turn into his wants, not his Nan or his press, but his greed, which is neck-deep in counterfeit notes.
The characters of Raj and TK are neither black nor white. Be it Sunny, the anti-hero of the series, or Michael, or whatever cop you’ve been on screen with. Neither is completely black or white. If Sunny’s heart is greedy yet humane, Michael doesn’t mind using fake currency to buy happiness for his child or blackmailing a minister into doing his job.
The writers have done a great job here with finely crafted characters and a gripping plot. A special shout out to the dialogue writer as well. The entire series is full of Chitti Mar dialogues. The exchanges between Vijay Sethupathi and Zakir Hussain are hilarious.
Farsi boasts an amazing cast. Shahid Kapoor has knocked it out of the park this time. As a Sunny artist, she will definitely earn a lot of fans here with her art. While he played a conman in Padmaash 12 years ago, the actor is now more consistent in his performances. We’ve seen Vijay Sethupathi playing cops before, Michael, a cop who, in his words, ‘isn’t loyal to the government, his job’. We are happy that Sethupathi himself spoke in the series and his voice was not dubbed. It’s fun to listen to him mouth dialogues in broken Hindi and even funnier when he throws explosives. This makes his character very relatable and real.
Mansoor’s character may not be out of the box, but Kay Kay Menon’s gangster act is top class. Bhuvan Arora, who was earlier seen in The Test Case and Naam Shabana, won hearts with his portrayal of Frose. On the other hand, Rashi Khanna is believed to be a fake coin expert. His character starts well but gradually fades away towards the second half. Zakir Hussain easily slips into the role of Pawan Khelat. There is nothing new in the role, but Zakir makes sure he is not forgotten.
With 8 episodes of 55-60 minutes each, Farsi is an intriguing watch, but with so much detail, it gets tiresome in parts. Though the show kept its audience hooked till the end, the makers could have easily avoided the details of printing fake notes.
The makers have kept the series open-ended, so viewers can look forward to Farsi Season 2 in the near future.
After Rohit Shetty’s cop universe and YRF’s spy universe, now we may have Raj and DK’s spy universe. The series marks Vijay Sethupathi’s Michael Raj and DK’s collaboration with a certain secret agent from the world of espionage. While they solve crimes together, they have a lot to talk about over a few drinks with all the explosives flying around the room. We say it’s less interesting than meeting a Pathan tiger.
3.5 stars out of 5 for Farzi.
