Last Updated:January 08, 2026, 11:26 IST

Neeraj Pandey teams up with Emraan Hashmi for Taskaree: The Smuggler’s Web, a thriller series about a customs officer, releasing on Netflix January 14.

Emraan Hashmi collaborated with Neeraj Pandey for the first time.

Filmmaker Neeraj Pandey, who has teamed up with Emraan Hashmi for the first time on their upcoming series, “Taskaree: The Smuggler’s Web”, said it was a “challenge” to do a thriller show with the actor due to his romantic image. Created by Pandey of “A Wednesday”, “Special 26″ and “Baby” fame, and directed by Raghav Jairath, the show revolves around a dedicated customs officer, played by Hashmi.

“Making a family show with Emraan Hashmi is quite a challenge. We’ve managed to pull that and I think you guys will love it,” Pandey said at the trailer launch of the Netflix show.

Hashmi, who early in his career had earned the tag of serial kisser, joked, “I also controlled myself on the screen ” The actor said he even asked Pandey to incorporate a song in the series but the director dismissed the suggestion.

“I told Neeraj sir let’s have a song in each episode but he almost told me to get out and I could have lost the show. Then I thought we can go ahead without the songs, but the background music is very good in this, I hope this would be okay (for my fans),” the actor said in a lighter vein.

“There are two beautiful women in the show, so, of course, there will be a love story. I’m in the show and there will be no love story?” he said.

Pandey said it was interesting and exciting to explore the unseen world of smuggling in the series.

“The world was very interesting, exciting, it was an unseen world. We were a tight team and all focused on delivering the best story. It was a fun ride for all of us.” Pandey, who has also directed and produced web series such as “Special OPS 1.5: The Himmat Story”, “Khakee: The Bihar Chapter”, “The Freelancer” and “Khakee: The Bengal Chapter”, said he enjoys making content for streaming platforms.

“It is a four-hour story, so I had to keep it engaging content wise and that was the challenge. It is an interesting and different format of storytelling,” he said.

“Taskaree: The Smuggler’s Web” also stars actors Amruta Khanvilkar, Nandish Singh Sandhu, Anurag Sinha, and Zoya Afroz. It is set to release on Netflix on January 14. PTI KKP BK RB

(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – PTI)