<p>‘Saare Jahan Se Accha’, Netflix’s new spy drama, has got quite the perfectly-timed release. Although far from perfect, it is atmospheric in parts and largely engaging.</p>.<p>Set against the backdrop of the Indo-Pak rivalry after the 1971 war, it trails R&AW (Research and Analysis Wing) officer Vishnu Shankar (Pratik Gandhi, competent as usual), who is tasked with preventing Pakistan from obtaining a nuclear reactor on the sly. The first episode begins well, with a believable backstory for the establishment of R&AW, apparently triggered by the death of India’s pioneering nuclear scientist Homi Bhabha in a plane crash. It then gathers momentum as R N Kao (Rajat Kapoor), the agency’s first chief, sends Vishnu to Pakistan to deal with the shadows. Vishnu is no flashy spy — he is brimming with restraint, and the series takes special pains to show his considerate side as opposed to his bosses, for whom ‘cutouts’ (trusted intermediaries) are people to be used and disposed of.</p>.<p class="bodytext">His Pakistani ‘counterpart’, Murtaza Malik, played with all his heart by Sunny Hinduja, is ruthless, sharp, and yet quite humane himself.</p>.<p class="bodytext">This is essentially where the series scores — unlike many other Indo-Pak dramas where all Pakistanis are ‘janab’-spouting caricatures, this series treats them as people cut from the same cloth but shaped by different compulsions, ideologies and duties. This is such a refreshing change that you tend to ignore the jarring accents, the attempts to pass off stock footage as Budapest, Paris and Moscow, and even the uneven pacing. </p>
<p>‘Saare Jahan Se Accha’, Netflix’s new spy drama, has got quite the perfectly-timed release. Although far from perfect, it is atmospheric in parts and largely engaging.</p>.<p>Set against the backdrop of the Indo-Pak rivalry after the 1971 war, it trails R&AW (Research and Analysis Wing) officer Vishnu Shankar (Pratik Gandhi, competent as usual), who is tasked with preventing Pakistan from obtaining a nuclear reactor on the sly. The first episode begins well, with a believable backstory for the establishment of R&AW, apparently triggered by the death of India’s pioneering nuclear scientist Homi Bhabha in a plane crash. It then gathers momentum as R N Kao (Rajat Kapoor), the agency’s first chief, sends Vishnu to Pakistan to deal with the shadows. Vishnu is no flashy spy — he is brimming with restraint, and the series takes special pains to show his considerate side as opposed to his bosses, for whom ‘cutouts’ (trusted intermediaries) are people to be used and disposed of.</p>.<p class="bodytext">His Pakistani ‘counterpart’, Murtaza Malik, played with all his heart by Sunny Hinduja, is ruthless, sharp, and yet quite humane himself.</p>.<p class="bodytext">This is essentially where the series scores — unlike many other Indo-Pak dramas where all Pakistanis are ‘janab’-spouting caricatures, this series treats them as people cut from the same cloth but shaped by different compulsions, ideologies and duties. This is such a refreshing change that you tend to ignore the jarring accents, the attempts to pass off stock footage as Budapest, Paris and Moscow, and even the uneven pacing. </p>