Anuj Kumar of The Hindu noted that "Emraan Hashmi leads Neeraj Pandey’s thriller that trades explosive momentum for nuanced depictions of smuggling and the personal cost of integrity."Read at source
Taskaree 2026 
Synopsis
Taskaree
Taskaree: The Smuggler's Web (lit. 'Smuggling: The Smuggler's Web') is a 2026 Indian Hindi-language crime thriller television series created by Neeraj Pandey and written by Vipul K Rawal along with Neeraj Pandey for Netflix, produced under the banner of Friday Storytellers. The series follows an Indian Customs Service team stationed at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport as they combat an international smuggling syndicate. The series stars Emraan Hashmi, Sharad Kelkar, Amruta Khanvilkar, Zoya Afroz, Nandish Sandhu and Anurag Sinha.
- Director
- Neeraj Pandey
- Release
- 14 Jan 2026
- Studio
- —
- Run time
- 58 min
- Language
- Hindi
Reviews
10 Indian-media reviews, grouped by reception.
Critics' consensus
Mixed
Critics' aggregate for Taskaree is 59/100 from 8 scored critic/publication reviews.
Synthesized by AI (gpt-5-codex-omdb-enricher) from 11 source-backed reviews — verify against the linked sources.Common praise
- performances
Positive 10
Bollywood Hungama rated the series 3 out of 5 stars and remarked that "On the whole, TASKAREE: THE SMUGGLER’S WEB is a unique one-of-a-kind show on customs and smuggling and impresses with its light-hearted narrative, comic and dramatic moments, a few twists and performances by the lead cast."Read at source
In The Tribune, Nonika Singh, who also rated the series 2.5 out of 5 stars, noted, “The drama turns too filmy and has the trademark strengths and weaknesses of a signature Pandey series.”Read at source
Kabir Singh Bhandari of Free Press Journal rated the series 2.5 out of 5 stars and said, "The series is like a tutorial on how smuggling is carried out at airports and what the role of the customs officers entail."Read at source
Lachmi Deb Roy of Firstpost also gave the series 3 stars out of 5, writing that "You can binge-watch the show, but you can watch it at one go too, just the way I did, because once you start watching, you won’t feel like giving it up.Read at source
Nandini Ramnath of Scroll.in wrote in her review that "There isn’t a trace of guilty pleasure over the 1970s movie-like scenes of smugglers operating somewhere in the foreign to push gold bars, drugs and expensive watches into India.Read at source
Reviewing for NDTV, Saibal Chatterjee rated the series 2.5 out of 5 stars and remarked that “if only the sheen of novelty wasn't dulled by facile plot twists, it would have been a far more captivating show.”Read at source
Risha Ganguly of Times Now rated the series 3.5 out of 5 stars and wrote that "Taskaree: The Smuggler’s Web is a competently crafted crime series that prioritises realism over spectacle.Read at source
Srishti Walia of Outlook rated the series 3 out of 5 stars and observed that "Pandey paces the series well, with characters grounded in their workplace and navigating the nitty-gritty of concealing illegal goods."Read at source
Titas Chowdhury of News 18 also gave it 3.5 stars out of 5 and stated that "Emraan Hashmi's performance relies less on bravado and more on contained intensity.Read at source
Media & trailers
Verified video records attached to this title.
Details
Technical specs
- Release date
- 14 Jan 2026
- Run time
- 58 min
- Language
- Hindi
- Country
- IN
- Director
- Neeraj Pandey
- Distributor
- Netflix
- Certificate
- TV-MA
Trivia
- Taskaree became the first Indian series to top Netflix’s global non-English television list upon its release.
- Emraan Hashmi, Amruta Khanvilkar, and Nandish Sandhu were collectively referred to as the “Trimurti” by the crew due to their on-screen chemistry.
- Mohammed Al Fahad became the first Bahraini actor to appear in a major Bollywood production in this series.
- The series was filmed on location in Mumbai, Goa, Delhi, Milan, Bangkok, Abu Dhabi, Al-Dera'a, Addis Ababa, and Bahrain.
- Amruta Khanvilkar sustained a hand injury during an action sequence that resulted in swelling lasting approximately a month.
- The series marks the fourth collaboration produced under Neeraj Pandey's Friday Filmworks banner.
Tags
Indian Series2026CrimeReleasedNot listed in source page
