Shahid Kapoor-Vijay Sethupathi's Farzi is an exhilarating rollercoaster ride

At a certain point in the story in Prime Video’s engrossing Farzi, the two protagonists of the crime caper, played by Shahid Kapoor and Vijay Sethupathi, finally meet. By that point in the plot, much water has flown, and all in a torrent, I might add. Farzi, directed by the infinitely resourceful Family Man duo Raj and DK, is a series about deception, self or otherwise. Sunny ( Shahid Kapoor, in a role that screams for silences) thinks his Nanu ( Amol Palekar, still…so impressive in his wizened avatar) knows nothing about what’s going on right under his nose. Nanu’s printing press is being used to generate counterfeit money. The printing press is ironically the hub for an ideological magazine called Kranti. Nanu’s grandchild Sunny and his bestie Firoz ( Bhuvan Arora, a natural-born scene stealer) feel they will get away with their counterfeiting act and that they are, finally, on to something big. They meet a semi-buffoonish global scamster Masoor Dalaal ( Kay Kay Menon at his cartoonish crest) who thinks the painting on his expensive wall is that of Vincent. When in fact, is it Vincent’s brother Theo in the picture. We are talking about the cough cough, the Van Goghs. Raj and DK’s Mumbai is founded on the vanity of oblivion and arrogance. It encircles the different worlds in Mumbai’s universe with a flat-out detached view of perfidy. Mansoor hits on the baffled and petrified Sunny when they first meet, starting his conversation with the most common gay hit line, “What’s your size?” He is talking about Shahid’s shirt, of course. No judgement value here, thank you. Sadly the characters betray themselves in their monstrous self-interest. Michael (Vijay Sethupathi, speaking with a broad Tamil accent) thinks he is a good father to his young son Vyom who now lives with his Mom Rekha (Regina Cassandra, in a part so underwritten, even her lawyer comes across as more substantial) ) when we clearly see that Michael sucks at parenting. There is an unintentionally hilarious sequence where Michael tries to give his whimpering I-want-my-mommy son a good time and ends up giving the child loose motions.

Michael, by the way, is on the trail of a counterfeit currency racket. So is Megha (Raashii Khanna). Both keep bumping into the criminals at fancy restaurants and other places. In one particularly prominent plot manoeuvre, Megha walks into an eatery just as Sunny leaves it after he pays with counterfeit money which Megha discovers (wow, we say) without knowing each other’s identity. My favourite cat-and-mouse game in Farzi is between cop Michael and a sleazy but very sharp politician played by the astounding Zakir Hussain, who has more scenes with Sethupathi than Shahid and who steals every shot from Sethupathi. Farzi has some very interesting plot twists. It is mounted impressively, with the settings and locations exuding the musk of misguided materialism. My favourite moment in the eight-episode series is when Sunny and Firoz try to walk into a posh nightclub and are stopped by an openly contemptuous attendant. It reminded me of Julia Roberts’ legendary boutique-store humiliation in Pretty Woman. She found her fairytale ending. In Farzi life is not all that simple. Subhash K Jha is a Patna-based journalist. He has been writing about Bollywood for long enough to know the industry inside out. Read all the  Latest News,  Trending News,  Cricket News,  Bollywood News,  India News and  Entertainment News here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and Instagram.