After delivering acclaimed and commercially successful films such as MS Dhoni: The Untold Story, Baby, Rustom, and Toilet: Ek Prem Katha, Neeraj Pandey forayed into OTT with Special Ops, an action espionage thriller web series that will appeal to the audience. Along became an instant hit. This was followed by Special Ops 1.5: The Himmat Story. He is now back with another promising web series Bandon Mein Tha Dum, which will stream on Voot from June 16. It is a four-part docu-series on the Indian cricket team’s resounding victory of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy at the Gabba.
Pandey is associated with several projects till the end of 2023. He is producing and writing one of the most awaited films Vikram Vedha, starring Hrithik Roshan and Saif Ali Khan. Vikram Vedha is the Hindi remake of the Tamil film of the same name. The original film starred R Madhavan and Vijay Sethupathi. Apart from this, Pandey has Special Ops 2 and an untitled film to go on floors soon.
In this conversation, Pandey talks about what he liked in a sports documentary series, his thoughts on the growing trend of remakes of South films in Bollywood, and whether South cinema is slowly becoming a threat to the Hindi film industry. Is. Interview excerpts:
This is your second project to have cricket as the central theme after MS Dhoni: The Untold Story. Are you inspired by the amalgamation of sports and cinema?
It’s actually the third. After M S Dhoni Biopic, Hum Kaun Praveen Tambe?’. Furthermore, the fascination stems from the dramas of real life, and in this case cricket and drama face all odds.
What actually made you direct this web series- was it the love for cricket or were you personally influenced by the whole incident?
It was a milestone. And nothing like this had happened before in the history of world cricket. This was the reason why we felt very strongly that this series needed to be documented with the players of both India And Australia for posterity.
What was the reaction of all the cricketers involved in the project when you approached him for the same? Did you know any of them before?
No, we didn’t know them at all. In fact, when we contacted them the first time we had a series of video calls where we tried to explain to them the nature of the documentary we wanted to make. Once they understood what we were doing, the road ahead became easier.
Lately, you have been devoting your time to your OTT projects. But on the film front, you are currently paying more attention to the production aspect. Why so?
We are going on floors soon with our film with me as a director. It is slated for a mid-year release next year. We feel that both the mediums are thriving and we are going to work with equal seriousness in both the formats.
You have given us some of the most classic original Hindi movies from A Wednesday to Baby and Special 26. But your upcoming production Vikram Vedha is a remake of South. Bollywood The remakes of films have often been criticized. Were you hesitant at all to adapt it for a Hindi remake?
not at all. Our films have been made in the south as well. As long as there is a huge audience waiting to watch these films, we don’t see any problem with the adaptations.
The Hindi film industry is going through a tough phase as many big ticket films have not worked as of late. At the same time, South’s films are continuously breaking many records at the box office. Are you concerned at all as a producer?
No, it’s a phase of transition and it’s an improvement in terms of the kind of content we’re creating. Post-pandemic audiences all over the world have been updated with content from across the globe and hence we have to be more diligent in choosing our stories.
When can we expect Special Ops 2?
subsequent years.
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