Special Ops 2 on Jio Hotstar: Money lessons from Neeraj Pandey’s excellent spy thriller with Kay Kay Menon | Mint

Special Ops season 2 opens with India’s foremost AI scientist being kidnapped. The complications arise when no ransom demand is made but one by one agents seem to die at the hands of unknown assassins. Himmat Singh is on the job. And as the minister says, ‘How come our enemies are always one step ahead?’

The logic of the villain is what ‘globalists’ use: no geographical borders define our work. This time cybercrimes just loot nations and the nexus between crooked politicians and criminals need to be proven. This time Himmat Singh needs to be more diplomatic than ever before as he coordinates between all his agents. From Budapest and the Dominican Republic, from South Block in Delhi to a grief stricken boss who has threatened to turn renegade, Himmat Singh’s challenges are many.

What money lessons can you learn from this Neeraj Pandey Shivam Nair thriller?

Pork barrel politics is a reality whether we like it or not

This derogatory term came into being in the 1800s, and is generally used in a derogatory manner. It refers to the practice of politicians trading favors with constituents or special interest groups in exchange for political support. The support comes in all forms, from advertising by superpacs in the US and of course in India, since the campaign finance laws being ambiguous, pouring money into our elections, without a shameful moment.

In the series, Himmat is dealing with a man who is hoping to steal all financial data and sell it to not just one country but to whichever country can pay his price. Plus each time he manages to get close to his target, someone tips off the bad guys. The joy of discovering how Himmat Singh’s team outwits the men with money is something you will not find in too many shows on any OTT platforms recently. Not the sameness of a new season of village politics, not the allure of Oscar winners, and the offerings of seriously violent South movies which are all otherwise worth watching simply pale in comparison to the financial shenanigans of the politicians, career servicemen and the villan.

What you need to understand is that whenever you make a digital transaction, you have to be very careful. Ensure that every transaction is secure and that you understand what it means your personal investment manager understands how important security can be.

Billionaires buy yachts and yes… elections

Money makes everything work in your favour. And when there is money, work gets done with alacrity that will make your head spin. The line between spies and the bad guys seems to blur when it comes to money, but we know in our gut that money spent on getting the good guys to catch bad guys is money well spent. But when you look at why the bad guy has earned his nickname, you understand why he needs to compensate for his deprived childhood. You will love how the backstory of the villain is given to us with a deadpan evenness, even though his dialog about how governments cheat millions of citizens and make money is a tad ‘cringe’.

If you have been reading the news, you will know how much the American government is dependent on technology owned by billionaires. If the billionaires who graced the inauguration of the current American president are anything to go by, and how contracts are being offered to billionaires in India, then you should know how dependent our economy is on the whims of a few.

As an investor, you will need to ensure that you have invested ethically and wisely. No one is stopping you from investing in companies run by billionaires – as the old Hindi idiom says, ‘Behti Ganga mein haath dho lo’ – make your money, and then make your escape. Hardly an ethical consideration, you’ll say, but then you understand the rules of survival, no?

And finally, one word about annoying children that seem to be in just about every series. Although little Anjali from Kuch Kuch Hota Hai still tops the list of annoying kids in all the movies and series, Pari (played by Revathi Pillai) from this series makes it to the list simply because her character is so ‘cheugy’ and predictable.

The show has a stellar cast – Kay Kay Menon,Vinay Pathak (as Abbas Shaikh), Parmeet Sethi (as Naresh Chaddha), Kali Prasad Mukherjee (as D.K. Banerjee), Dalip Tahil ( as Virendra Bakshi), Gautami Kapoor (as Saroj, Himmat Singh’s wife), Tota Roy Chowdhury (as Vinod Shekhawat), Arif Zakaria (as Dr. Piyush Bhargav), Karan Tacker (as Farooq), Muzamil Ibrahim (as Avinash), Saiyami Kher (as Juhi Kashyap), Vikas Manaktala (as Abhay Singh), Shikha Talsania (as Ruhani Sayyed) and of course Tahir Raj Bhasin (as the villainous Sudheer Awasthi) – and the production values are good. Good thing this drops on a Friday, because if rain is predicted, then your weekend binge watch is set!

Manisha Lakhe is a poet, film critic, traveller, founder of Caferati — an online writer’s forum, hosts Mumbai’s oldest open mic, and teaches advertising, films and communication. She can be reached on Twitter at @manishalakhe.