Taskaree review: Emraan Hashmi series stays largely in the predictable zone

The seven-part series created by Neeraj Pandey, and written by Pandey and Vipul K Rawal, gives us a ringside view of a fictitious chain of command, from the ringmasters sitting in tony high-rises in Middle East countries to their links in Mumbai at the international airport, and the well-paid couriers (popat) who go back and forth, ferrying these items in ingenious ways.

The heroes of the show, toplined by Emraan Hashmi, are the scrupulously honest customs officials tasked with a thorough clean-up. Straight-arrow officer Prakash Kumar (Anurag Sinha), summoned by the top boss (Sajjad Hussain) assembles his own team, comprising the suspended trio of Arjun Meena (Hashmi), Ravinder Gujjar (Nandish Sandhu) and Mitali Kamath (Amruta Khanvilkar).

No details are handed out about their suspension, but the assumption is that these three must have been a thorn in the side for a lot of people, and now that they are back, smugglers better beware. There’s an indication that Arjun may not be as clean as the others, but nothing is made of that throw-away hint, which could have lent his character a little more dimension, even if the threesome is the most fleshed out; Ravinder is given a romance on the side, and Mitali is shown to be a feisty single mom to a little girl.

The man in their cross-hairs is Bada Chaudhary (Sharad Kelkar) and his gang which keeps everything moving. The big daddy has a penchant for using his golf club on human heads; the others– a well-groomed woman (Ekavalli Khanna) supervising the assembly line of expensive handbags, a good-looking dude, a charming air-hostess (Zoya Afroz) ), a suspicious old hand (Jameel Khan)– are all soon left shaken and stirred by the strong actions taken by our band of brave officers back in Mumbai.

A couple of strands are engaging. An unlikely looking fellow tries to escape through the green channel with a pair of marmosets acquired from a wet market in Bangkok, the creatures coming out of their drugged sleep because of, what else, a flight delay. A portly young woman gamely swallows multiple capsules filled with ‘powder’, with not a shadow of fear on her face: her increasing unease is more because of the inevitable call of nature. And an airline is called Sitaara, haha, and a Middle East city goes by the name of Al Dera.

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The show does well to focus on the fact that many customs officers are corrupt to the core; the honest ones are the exception. One officer’s family, with many of its members in the Income Tax department, is shown to be even more corrupt, which feels like a smart side-swipe. We also get an idea of how things function in big airports, and how keen-eyed officers can prevent smuggling, with a few quirky touches making us smile. But these are far and few in between, and the potential of a series like this to create something totally fresh is never realised.

Lazily laced with a voice-over, and dotted by familiar plot-points, ‘Taskaree’ stays largely in the predictable zone: even the always watchable Emraan Hashmi is flattened in the telling.

Taskaree cast: Emraan Hashmi, Sharad Kelkar, Anurag Sinha, Nandish Sandhu, Amruta Khanvilkar, Zoya Afroz, Virendra Saxena, Jameel Khan, Ekavalli Khanna, Sumit Nijhawan, Freddy Daruwala, Sajjad Hussain
Taskaree directors: Neeraj Pandey, Raghav M Jairath, B A Fida
Taskaree rating: Two stars