Mohit Raina and Kashmira Pardeshi, who will be seen in the series The Freelancer, say the experience of shooting in Morocco was delightful

Sheetal

The trailer of Disney+Hotstar original series, The Freelancer, was dropped on Wednesday and it is a high-octane drama about extracting an Indian girl trapped in Syria. While Mohit Raina essays the role of Avinash Kamath, Kashmira Pardeshi plays Aliya. The series has been directed by Bhav Dhulia, produced by Friday Storytellers, while Neeraj Pandey is the creator and showrunner.

About working on a variety of projects related to patriotism, including 21 Sarfarosh —Saragarhi 1897, Uri—The Surgical Strike, Kaafir, Bhaukaal (two seasons), Mumbai Diaries 26/11 and now The Freelancer, Raina says, “It is a mere co-incidence. But I believe ever since the OTT revolution, filmmakers have the confidence to take risks and showcase unique stories. Due to that, actors like me have more options to choose from. This one is action-based, something that I have not done before.”

The series is based on the book A Ticket to Syria by Shirish Thorat. While Kashmira was told not to read it and approach the character as it comes, Mohit Raina’s introduction to the book came from Neeraj himself. Mohit shares, “Around that time Neeraj’s Special Ops was in pre-production phase. Due to some technical and date-related issues, I couldn’t be part of that project. But Neeraj had told me about Thorat’s book and how they were planning to develop a show. He told me to give it a read and the rest is history! With a crew that included Hollywood’s best action director, shooting was a great experience.”

Leading lady

Kashmira is quite excited about her part. She says, “The name of Neeraj Pandey, will excite any actor. When I had to audition for this, I was in a house boat in Alleppey, Kerala, shooting for a song. They needed me to send the audition the same day, as Neeraj was flying out. And the rollercoaster ride began from there itself.”

Having shot in Morocco for almost two months, Kashmira returned with a bag full of memories. She adds, “I have some great memories. When you are together for such a long time, you get to know people a little differently. It was a beautiful experience. It’s one part of the profession that I really enjoy; the unpredictability of where we are going to be in a month’s time.”

Veteran actor Anupam Kher is also part of the series and Raina hails him as the lucky mascot of Neeraj, as Anupam has been in all his successful projects, including A Wednesday, Special 26, Baby and MS Dhoni: The Untold Story.