Mohit Raina is returning to the streaming world this week with his new web series The Freelancer. The extraction drama, created by Neeraj Pandey and directed by Bhav Dhulia, sees the actor as a cop-turned-mercenary who is trying to rescue an Indian girl from ISIS-controlled Syria. DNA caught up with Mohit and the director Bhav to chat about the show’s premise and the challenges of shooting it in the Mediterranean.

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Mohit reveals that he signed the show even before it was fully written, simply because Neeraj Pandey was helming it. “I came on board at a time when the show was still being written. When a maker like Neeraj Pandey texts you that he is planning to make something like this and wants you to be a part of the, you just quietly say yes. I had said yes without knowing what world it would be set in. Then the writing team sat and created that world,” shares the actor.

The series was shot in Morocco with international experts helping with the action and the Moroccan Army itself supplying the weapons. “We shot this in Morocco, where we were for 50 days. The action director, a French guy named Jerome, came in with a lot of international experience. We had Moroccan Army taking care of the weapons. When your surroundings are such, you get an adrenaline rush to do your best and challenge yourself. Unfortunately, I had a small injury while performing the action sequences but the team took care of it. It’s lucky to be surrounded by such professionals,” recalls Mohit.

The show’s action is receiving notice since the trailer launch with many fans praising it and even comparing it with much larger films. Explaining the approach to the action, director Bhav Dhulia says, “Because we chose the more realistic approach, the use of cables and high-speed cuts is limited. That is why Mohit had to a lot of stunts, skids, punches that does not get covered as much in this genre. So that requires a lot of rehearsals. We had a lot of help in a French action director, an Italian weapons trainer, crew of stunt performers.”

But doing a lot of stunts himself meant Mohit did have an injury on the sets of The Freelancer. Recalling that, he says, “I had an injury and God was very kind that I had very supportive people around me. We had a physiotherapist travelling with us, who looked after me. I could not have pulled it without the support of Bhav and Neeraj sir. I won’t go into the details of it but it was all worth it in the end, it’s all worth it.”

Bhav shares that Mohit did not let the injury stop him or even slow him down. “On the set, we could see him struggle with it. But actors like him, they have a switch that as soon as the camera is on, all those struggles vanish. We saw that with Mohit again and again. As soon as I used to say action, he used to forget he had an injury,” says Bhav.

The Freelancer also stars Kashmir Pardeshi, Anupam Kher, Manjari Fadnis, John Kokken, Navneet Malik, and Sarah Jane Dias. The show premieres on Disney+ Hotstar on September 1.