Farzi

Farzi is an Indian Hindi-language black comedy crime thriller television series created, produced and directed by Raj & DK, who also co-wrote the series with Sita Menon and Suman Kumar. It stars Vijay Sethupathi, Shahid Kapoor, Kay Kay Menon, Raashii Khanna and Bhuvan Arora, and tells the story of a disillusioned artist who decides to make counterfeit money.

Initially conceived as a film in 2014, Farzi was expanded into a television series by 2019. Principal photography began in Mumbai in July 2021. Filming also took place in Alibaug, Goa, Nepal, and Jordan. Sachin–Jigar and Tanishk Bagchi composed the songs, while Ketan Sodha provided the score. The series shares continuity with Raj & DK's spy series The Family Man.

The eight-episode series was released on Amazon Prime Video on 10 February 2023. Farzi received positive reviews, and emerged as the most-watched Indian streaming series. By the end of February 2023, Kapoor confirmed that the show would return for a second season. At the 2023 Filmfare OTT Awards, Farzi received 10 nominations.

Premise
Sunny is an artist disillusioned by the income inequality in India after failing to keep his grandfather's extensive printing press in business. He decides to team up with his best friend Firoz to make counterfeit money. They face challenges from Mansoor, a gangster, and Michael, a cop. According to co-creator Raj Nidimoru, the title refers to counterfeiting, as well as the "fakeness" inherent in people.

Cameos
The following actors make cameos, reprising their roles from The Family Man:

Production
Farzi was first conceived as a film by Raj & DK with Shahid Kapoor and Nawazuddin Siddiqui in 2014. Kriti Sanon joined the cast by the end of the year. By 2019, it was expanded into a television series with Kapoor still attached. In January 2021, Kapoor confirmed that Raashii Khanna had joined the project. In September 2021, Bhuvan Arora said that he was working on the series. Raj & DK offered a part to Vijay Sethupathi when they were in Chennai filming The Family Man; he joined the production 40 days after they began filming. He credited his co-star Raashii Khanna, with whom he had worked before in Tamil films, for making him comfortable on set.

Principal photography began at Film City, Mumbai in July 2021. Filming also took place in parts of Mumbai, Goa, Alibaug, Nepal, and Jordan. Pankaj Kumar served as the cinematographer.

The series was officially announced by Amazon on 28 April 2022, during the launch exhibit of 40 Indian projects sanctioned by the company. Kapoor, Sethupathi, Khanna, Kay Kay Menon, Regina Cassandra, Zakir Hussain, Bhuvan Arora, Amol Palekar, and Kubbra Sait were all announced to star.

Writer Sita Menon stated that a scene indicating a crossover with Raj & DK's show The Family Man was not pre-planned and that the idea came to Raj on the day of the shoot. DK later confirmed the crossover, stating the worlds in the two series "run parallel to each other".

Soundtrack
The duo Sachin–Jigar, who are frequent collaborators of Raj & DK, composed music for the series. They composed two songs, "Paisa Hai Toh" and "Sab Farzi". Tanishk Bagchi composed the third song, "Aasmaan". A soundtrack album comprising these three songs was released by Sony Music India on 28 January 2023.

Release
Two first-look posters of Farzi featuring Shahid Kapoor and Vijay Sethupathi were released on 5 January 2023. A week later, on 13 January, the official trailer was released. To promote the show, Prime Video collaborated with Swiggy to send out fake ₹2,000 notes to customers who ordered from the service. The series was released on Amazon Prime Video on 10 February 2023. Later that month, Kapoor confirmed that the series would return for a second season.

In March 2023, a YouTuber named Joravar Singh Kalsi, and his friend Gurpeet Singh, were arrested in Gurgaon for enacting a scene from the series, in which they threw fake currency notes from a speeding car.

Critical response
Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV wrote that "thanks to a gripping storyline, the uniformly-paced series sustains its momentum within the individual chapters and across all its eight parts", and praised the performances of Shahid Kapoor, Vijay Sethupathi and Kay Kay Menon. Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express concluded that the "inimitable Vijay Sethupathi livens up show that is in service to its star Shahid Kapoor, not its plot". Anuj Kumar of The Hindu also compared it unfavourably to The Family Man, writing that the "socio-political commentary that was seamless in The Family Man gets repetitive and even jarring at times here". He also expressed displeasure with how "the writers have spent hours in explaining the business of counterfeit currency, but have left the nuts and bolts of the story loose", but found Kapoor and Sethupathi's performances to be "splendid".

Deepa Gahlot of Rediff.com was appreciative of the performances of Sethupathi and Menon; she found certain episodes to be "adrenaline-pumping" but found others "yawn-inducing". ThePrint Nidhima Taneja termed it a "gripping crime thriller" and found Bhuvan Arora's to the "breakout performance" of the series. Shweta Keshri of India Today wrote that "Farzi is an intriguing watch, but with too much detailing, it tends to get exhausting in parts". She added that "Kapoor has knocked it out of the park this time", termed Sethupati "remarkable", and Menon "top class". Scroll.in Nandini Ramnath opined that "the show’s strengths include a well-chosen cast, strong individual moments, and dialogue destined to endure as memes". She was particularly impressed by Pankaj Kumar's cinematography, which she said "includes several continuous takes to create momentum and one bravura – and hilarious – chase sequence set in a crippling Mumbai traffic jam".

Pratikshya Mishra of The Quint termed it a "sly, gripping thriller" and added that "the camerawork and editing work hand-in-hand to create a nearly mesmerising experience, mimicking the hypnotic nature of greed, fame, and power". Sowmya Rajendran found similarities between Farzi and The Family Man; she labelled it a "mostly engrossing crime drama" and found Kapoor "likeable as the anti-hero". Dishya Sharma of News18 found Farzi to be "binge-worthy" but not "as great as The Family Man"; she picked up the performances, cinematography and music as the series' highlights. Ronak Kotecha of The Times of India opined that Farzi "is a refreshing and intensely gripping scamster saga whose pros far outweigh its cons".

Audience viewership
According to the consulting firm Ormax Media, Farzi emerged as the most-watched Indian streaming series of all time, with a projected 37 million viewers, overtaking the record previously set by Rudra: The Edge of Darkness (2022).