The Freelancer’s biggest challenge, according to Bhav Dhulia, was to realistically and accurately portray ISIS in Morocco

The Freelancer, a new Disney+Hotstar original starring Anupam Kher, Mohit Raina, and Sushant Singh, has debuted its teaser. It is based on Shirish Thorat’s best-selling novel, “A Ticket to Syria.” The high-profile thriller series was created and is being produced by ‘Special Ops’ director Neeraj Pandey, who also directed ‘Khakee: The Bihar Chapter’. The miraculous rescue of a little girl named Aliya (Kashmira Pardeshi) from war-torn Syria by Indian mercenary Avinash Kamath (Mohit Raina) is the focus of the film “The Freelancer,” which is set against the background of the rise of ISIS terrorism.

Bhav discussed the difficulties of establishing ISIS in Morocco in an interview with Outlook India. He spoke about working with Neeraj Pandey, how he got the job, and much more.

When we questioned Bhav about the origin of the situation, he said, “It started practically even before I joined the project three years ago. ‘A Ticket To Syria’ is a book that Neeraj Sir discovered. I was working on a prior project at the time. I learned about this major action thriller occurring in the same workplace. It was quite close-knit, nobody knew about it, and I often saw Mohit visiting Neeraj Sir’s office. It wasn’t until my program had ended that Neeraj Sir approached me and informed me of the situation. I remember being extremely astonished by it when I first read it. In a world where private armies are so prevalent, it’s the first time we’ve seen an Indian mercenary. Unknown to us is the existence of an independent Indian mercenary. I was really taken aback by the content when I eventually read Ritesh Shah’s narrative. Mohit, Ritesh Shah, and I had all gotten on board at that point before I did. I was instructed to design the project whatever I want.

“We began originally in Mumbai for a few days, and then we moved to Morocco to imitate Syria,” he said. We invaded a tiny village in Morocco and meticulously reconstructed the whole ISIS territory, which plays a significant role in the narrative. The staff we had was mostly Indian but some Moroccan. We had performers from the Middle East, Europe, and America as well as a French action director, an Italian weapon teacher, and actors. This is what first drew me to the topic and was something I had always wanted to pursue since it is genuinely on a worldwide scale.

Bhav admits that he is the only member of the group who hasn’t read the book. He explained the cause by saying, I want a new viewpoint. I believed that I shouldn’t base my opinion on what the book claims. That was the whole idea—for me to see the movie instead of reading the book. It may often happen that after reading something, you get persuaded to keep doing things a specific manner. I had a whole new primary viewpoint. I could not be prejudiced. The book served as the foundation. In a web series, you have to stretch a lot since the tale is spread out across seven episodes. You have to go beyond what is in the text. I already did that. Avinash and Aliya’s emotional content from the original narrative as well as the original story itself were taken into consideration.

Bhav has previously worked with the “Special 26″ director. According to him, Shital Bhatia, the producer, Neeraj Pandey, and the whole Friday Filmworks have a very particular bond with him. ‘Khakee’ was my first project with them, and while we were in the process of filming it, I was given the opportunity to take on this. Neeraj Sir enables many of the creatives and professionals to simply be their authentic selves because of the way he works. I’m not on set when he is, and the opposite is true when I am. The most crucial factor is that we have a deep emotional connection to creating something monumental. We now have a really harmonious relationship. He serves as my mentor in my eyes, and he helped me through the whole process. It’s wonderful to have a fan. Neeraj Sir is like the admiral of the fleet, if the director is the captain of the ship,” he said.

When asked whether he and Neeraj had different creative styles, Dhulia said, “That often doesn’t happen the way we work. He and I get down with the script and organize everything before we go to the shoot. You see, the objective is to not be frightened of differences of opinion with any creative colleague, not only Neeraj Sir. Only after resolving disagreements can the project be advanced, and in a series, each series consists of three to four films. There is a ton of room and volume for many contributors to join together and create something. I really believe that we compliment one another in that sense.

Speaking candidly about the difficulties encountered during filming “The Freelancer,” Bhav said, “There were two aspects. A- Because we were reenacting ISIS in Morocco, we had to completely reconstruct a town or a small hamlet to seem as ISIS would have done it. We had 300–400 artists, together with their costumes and makeup. Therefore, the largest issue was replicating a distinct nation or region. Yes, Mohit found the action element to be quite difficult, but he handled it well. We chose to take a really pragmatic tack. How to portray ISIS truly and accurately has always been our hardest issue.

The ‘Rangbaaz’ director further claimed that the Moroccan government had given them military gear and that there had been intensive rehearsals 15 to 20 days before the shoot.

The cast of “The Freelancer” also includes Sarah Jane Dias, John Kokken, Gauri Balaji, Manjiri Faddnis, and Navneet Malik. The online series may be seen starting on September 1.