Mohit Raina is playing the titular role of Avinash Kamath in the upcoming web series 'The Freelancer'. He feels 'blessed' to be part of Neeraj Pandey's universe and calls it a dream come true for him.
The trailer of 'The Freelancer' was unveiled recently and it has already given the audience an adrenaline rush. The Disney+Hotstar series has a terrific ensemble cast including Mohit Raina, Anupam Kher, and Sushant Singh among others. The series is based on the bestselling book - 'A Ticket to Syria' by Shirish Thorat. Produced by Friday Storytellers, filmmaker Neeraj Pandey is the creator and showrunner of the web series.
Mohit Raina plays the titular role of Avinash Kamath who is on a deadly extraction mission where a girl is held captive in the hostile environment of Syria due to her husband’s deceit. Recently, in an interaction with Outlook India, I told Mohit that he is the 'star' in the trailer. To which he said, ''Thank you''.
Mohit is seen in a never-seen-before avatar doing a lot of actions and his character seems to be one of the difficult ones so far. On playing such a role he said that it was physically and emotionally quite draining and exhausting for him because he hasn't played anybody who had such an arc in life. Elaborating further, the actor said, ''I play Avinash Kamath who has unfortunately been in circumstances and in a condition where he has lost everything in his life. There is no motivation for him to live his life but then obviously times do change and tables turn around and then he becomes this person who is a ruthless mercenary working CIA and handling the global people. That character was quite interesting to me. And I think in India we haven't seen anything of this sort being made in series. I think it's one of the biggest and first extraction series that is being made on Disney+Hotstar.''
'The Freelancer' is Mohit's first association with Neeraj Pandey. When asked how it was collaborating with such a genius filmmaker, he said, ''It was amazing and a dream come true. When I met sir then writing didn't even start. There was just a tentative idea. When I met him, he told me about it and at that point I told him that I want to be a part of the series whenever he makes it. Then he told me about the book. I read the book and then unfortunately Covid happened. Then his team wrote it in episodes and it happened. So, it has been a long journey and not something which is been easily we have got it. But obviously, when you look at the trailer, you forget everything and to be honest I never thought in my dream that I will be a part of Neeraj Pandey's universe.''
He added, ''We have seen 'A Wednesday', 'Special Ops', 'Baby', etc. You never imagine that you will be a part of his universe. I am really blessed that I got a chance.''
Directed by Bhav Dhulia, 'The Freelancer' will premiere on September 1.