Special OPS

On 15 January 2019, the streaming platform Hotstar,[12][13] announced its foray to original content production exclusively for the service,[14] with STAR India,[15] the parent company of Hotstar,[14] tied up with 15 Indian filmmakers for creating the shows for its label called Hotstar Specials.[16][17] Pandey had started a new division Friday Storytellers, a subsidiary of his production house Friday Filmworks, for digital content providers, in which the series is produced.[18]

The series is developed as an eight-hour story which is inspired by nineteen years worth events of national significance by Pandey along with Deepak Kingrani and Benazir Ali Fida. Shivam Nair was served as the co-director.[19] He initially pitched the idea of the series in 2010, with Star India's head Gaurav Bannerjee, offering to premiere the show on Star Plus, but failed to materialise later.[20] The project was eventually announced with Kay Kay Menon being offered to play the protagonist, on 6 August 2019, and the rest of the cast and crew members were finalised in the same month.[21]

The principal photography of the series was kickstarted in mid-August 2019.[22] Shivam Nair took charge of helming the major portions of the show taking place in India,[23] and Pandey was directing the rest of the sequences. The show has recreated Parliament of India for filming 2001 Indian Parliament attack portions which were dealt for the first time in film history.[24] Apart from India the show is filmed in Turkey, Jordan, United Arab Emirates and Azerbaijan.[25] Pandey eventually stated that the shooting of the series in Delhi was more expensive, as the team needed to buld sets and also use visual effects, as the story needs heavy mounting, and hence filmed in international locations.[26]

In a live chat session on Instagram, with Kay Kay Menon, Karan Tacker and Neeraj Pandey on May 2020, the director hinted of the second season of the series, which is yet to be conceptualised.[5] Although an official announcement of the second season was made on April,[27] Pandey hinted that the series will be "bigger than that of the first season".[28] In January 2021, Pandey announced that the works on the second season will be completed,[29] before starting the production of Ajay Devgn's Chanakya.[30]

Special OPS received mostly positive response from critics. Rohan Naahar of Hindustan Times stated "Neeraj Pandey and Kay Kay Menon deliver the first Hostar original series almost worth the self-isolation."[41] Sana Farzeen of The Indian Express stated "With some impressive performances and a compelling tale, Special Ops deserves a watch".[42] Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV gave three out of five stars to the show stating "Special Ops, is a sprawling espionage actioner that takes its own sweet time to glide towards two suspenseful climactic build-ups."[43] Archika Khurana of The Times of India, gave three out of five and stated "Special Ops' could have been a winner all together if it was more focussed. Still, this setup of spies is better than some of its counterparts, and is binge worthy too."[44]

Stutee Ghosh of The Quint gave three out of five to the show and stated "Special Ops is uneven in its pace and falters in between but it’s also a proof of Neeraj Pandey’s skill that despite these flaws he has created a series that has enough drama to keep us hooked."[45] Divyanshi Sharma of India Today, gave a mixed review stating "Special Ops has some stellar performances, which was put down by, forced slow-motion scenes, predictable twists, absence of logic and poorly executed story."[46] Nandini Ramanath of Scroll.in opined "Special Ops lands on the better side of Bard of Blood, but doesn’t match the entertainment value of The Family Man. The action is uneven. While the Parliament attack is well executed, the hand-to-hand combat scenes are unmistakably choreographed. The production design too is exiguous."[47]

Avinash Ramachandran of The New Indian Express commented "Despite the supporting cast being underwritten, a few setbacks in the pacing, and the oh-so-convenient twists, the show gets a lot right".[48] Firstpost chief critic Pratishruti Ganguly gave two out of five and stated "Perhaps it would have fared better for Special Ops to do away with the frills and focus on the titular special operation right from the get-go. The latter half of the show is decidedly far better than the first half. The twist in the end is unexpected, to say the least. It could well be a binge-worthy series in the times of self-quarantine."[49]