CAST: Arbaaz Khan, Danish Husain, Ekta Kaul, Manav Vij, M. K. Raina, Rajat Kapoor, Satyadeep Mishra, Shashank Arora, Sumit Kaul, Sukhmani Sadana, Waluscha De Sousa, Zarina Wahab

DIRECTOR: Sudhir Mishra

Fauda has been the most successful Israeli series for its gritty action. Based on the personal experiences of creators Lior Raz and Avi Issacharoff, Fauda pits Israeli intelligence agents against Palestinian militants in the West Bank.

Tanaav is the Indian adaptation of Fauda and set in the continuing unrest of Kashmir of 2017. Mind you, this is the time when the commercial, organizational aspects of the militancy were settled and the Army had a structured relationship with the terrorists.

Keeping those realities in place, the series does a great job of being in Kashmir, the colors, the language, the vibe and the apathy of the life as a Kashmiri.

The SonyLIV web series, directed and co-written by Sudhir Mishra (with Ishan Trivedi) and Sachin Mamta Krishn actually does a pretty slick job in balancing the narrative without judging the righteousness because who could be so right in war that has been fought for more than 30 years and across generations of Kashmiris who have suffered loss and death everyday.

Though the series is 12 episodes long, we only got 5 of those episodes on Sony Liv in the USA.

Kabir Farooqui (Manav Vij) has retired from a special forces unit and runs a jam-making business, living a peaceful life with his wife Nusrat (Sukhmani Sadana) and two children. His commander Vikrant Rathore (Arbaaz Khan) drops by with the bombshell news that the dreaded terrorist Umar Riaz (Sumit Kaul), believed to have been killed by Kabir, is alive.

For this intel, the reptilian bureaucrat Malik (Rajat Kapoor) kidnaps a professor. Malik is later seen to fraternise with his counterpart across the border, also called Malik (Danish Hussain), which hints at a hidden whirlpool that only spies are aware of and control. These grey men don’t carry guns and bombs, but are more lethal.

Once Kabir is drawn back to his unit of hotheads, there is no returning until Riaz is found. It is not quite clear why Riaz has so much power, but he commands the unquestioning loyalty of his men, most of all, the impressionable Junaid (Shashank Arora).

The casting is remarkable in a way with Kashmiri Pandits like Sumit Kaul and MK Raina play separatists. Several Kashmiri actors lend the dialogue the right lilt and authenticity. Ekta Kaul is a doctor who is forced to help the separatists.

The relief of the series is its really authentic screenplay. We will vouch for the authenticity with which the language is spoken, the accent and the intermixing of three languages ( urdu, kashmiri and english) in normal conversation.

Manav Vij plays the frustrated operator with a sincere dedication. Shashank Arora makes an impact with his scorching screen presence as Junaid accompanying Riaz.

On the whole, a series that needed to be made. We absolutely loved it.

Waiting for the rest of the episodes.