Special Ops 1.5: The Himmat Story

Special Ops 1.5: The Himmat Story is a Hindi action thriller series created and directed by Neeraj Pandey for Disney+ Hotstar. The series is set inside the Special Ops Universe and stars Kay Kay Menon as Himmat Singh. The series premiered on 12 November 2021.

Cast

 * Kay Kay Menon as Himmat Singh
 * Aftab Shivdasani as Vijay Kumar
 * Vinay Pathak as Sub Inspector Abbas Sheikh, Delhi Police
 * Aadil Khan as Maninder Singh
 * Gautami Kapoor as Saroj
 * Parmeet Sethi as Naresh Chadha
 * Kali Prasad Mukherjee as D. K. Banerjee
 * Kishor Kadam as Mondal
 * Vijay Vikram Singh as Naval Commodore Chintamani Sharma
 * Aishwarya Sushmita as Karishma
 * Shantanu Ghatak as Vinayak Shukla
 * Shiv Jyoti Rajput as Anita Sharma
 * Nikhat Khan as Meenakshi Sharma
 * Purnendu Bhattacharya as Mathur
 * Vivek Madaan as Sankalp Chaudhary
 * Maria Ryaboshapka as Natasha
 * Harssh A. Singh as Mahendra Chautala
 * Sushil Tyagi as SP. Sushil Sharma
 * Karan Tacker as Farooq Ali (special appearance)

Production
The series was formally announced by Disney+ Hotstar in January 2021 with Kay Kay Menon attached to star. In the same month Aftab Shivdasani joined the cast.

Filming
The series started production in February, 2021. The series was shot in Ukraine in July 2021, with the Ukraine leg of the shoot completed in Kyiv in the same month.

Release
The four-episode series premiered on Disney+ Hotstar on November 12, 2021, as part of Disney+ Day.

Promotion
A teaser of the show was released on 14 October 2021 on the social media handles of Disney+ Hotstar. The trailer was leaked online before its official release on October 19, 2021.

Reception
Archika Khurana writing for The Times of India commented "Kay Kay Menon’s Himmat Singh leaves a lasting impression as a RAW agent" rating 3 out of 5 stars.

Manik Sharma writing for Firstpost noted, "It is understandable that Special Ops 1.5 is a detour to make Himmat Singh more personable, instead of the maverick he was shown in the first season, but the story is too disjointed to pull this narrative heist off."

Udita Jhunjhunwala writing for Scroll noted that Special Ops 1.5 feels like an appetiser and a palate cleanser while we wait for the main course, because there's clearly more to come from Neeraj Pandey, Menon, Himmat Singh and his special ops team.

Bhavna Agarwal from Bollywood Bubble commented "Neeraj Pandey's approach to the story with his lenses and storyline is the strength of the prequel backed by a fluid screenplay. Kay Kay Menon returns as Himmat Singh along with Aftab Shivdasani and Vinay Pathak in pivotal roles."

Prateek Sur received the show positively and rated it 3.5 out of 5.

Sequel
In April 2022, Neeraj Pandey confirmed that the third season of Special OPS is under production and will be released in early 2023.