For every yin, there is a yang. A force that has an opposing force resisting it from the start. Michael Vedanayagam is that figure who could find himself at either side of this equation depending on what side the other person is willing to take. “Farzi” not just talks about the gray shades of men like Sunny and Firoz, who, out of desperation, started printing fake currency notes just to be able to earn enough money to sustain themselves, but the show also throws light on their lives of the officers working in the intelligence agencies, helping the government find culprits, the money launderers responsible for causing much larger damage to the economy of the country. Michael Vedanagayam is a senior task force officer who has relentlessly followed the menace of hawala money, counterfeit currency notes, and probably the connection of all this to the drug mafia.
Michael is an honest officer, which has been established from the beginning itself, but he does not let his honesty get in the way of the job he has to do. He is stern, ruthless, and demanding when he needs to be. He has been chasing the most notoroius money launderer, Mansoor Dalal, for years. Their history is not mentioned at the beginning of the show, but it is understood that Michael and Mansoor have been doing the cat-and-mouse chase for a while, and Michael is now very close to nabbing Mansoor. Mansoor, who is aware of Michael’s need to catch him, makes sure to stay many steps ahead. Michael is obsessed with getting rid of the entire ring that supplies counterfeit notes, and to make sure that happens, he is in dire need of a task force dedicated only to finding the said contraband. He keeps requesting Minister Gahlot to green-light the task force he has been asking for many years. Gahlot, as the Minister at this point, does not trust Michael because there have been back-to-back failures of his operations in the past, the last one being the Nepal expedition. Gahlot must answer to his high command, which makes it difficult for him to say yes to Michael and his demands.
Michael comes across as someone who is sorted professionally, longing for better work every day, but he is struggling with his personal life. His wife of many years separated from him, and the only chance he gets to meet his only child is whenever he has time to get away from the operations. Michael believes he did everything he could to make sure his wife and child remained sorted back when they were married, but his wife has another story to tell. It is revealed that Michael and his partner Dave were close to nabbing Mansoor and connecting the money laundering racket to the drug mafia when the case completely fell apart due to a new report accusing Michael and his partner of murdering people who they took into custody. The noise around the report led to Michael and his partner Dave losing the promotions they were expecting, which led to a humiliation that his partner Dave could not cope with. Dave ended up killing himself, which drowned Michael in alcoholism and depression, and he faced severe PTSD. This resulted in his marriage deteriorating because Michael’s propensity to hurl abuse and gulping down alcohol. Michael, though he is back on his feet and trying to bring down the same money laundering cartel, he is alone this time. It is interesting to understand that the writers, Raj, DK, Suman Kumar, and Sita Menon, showed Michael as someone who has flaws, and as he is growing older, he is accepting of the mistakes he made in the past and is willing to make amends, but his wife knows him too well. She is aware that it is too late to possibly mend anything that is left between them. Michael initially behaves like a typical chauvinistic man by acting jealous and approaching his in-laws. But eventually, Michael realizes that his happiness cannot be dependent on one person. If she is not happy being with him, there is no way he will remain happy in that marriage too. The divorce eventually comes through. Michael somehow sails through the divorce proceedings, not allowing his emotions to bring out the worst side of him.
His professional relationship with Minister Gahlot is the focus and bane of his life because he would require all sorts of clearance from the said Minister himself to carry out operations to capture as many counterfeit currency notes as possible. The Minister does not necessarily like him, but he also knows Michael is the only guy who’s capable of capturing the counterfeit currency notes mafia kingpin. Michael finally gets the task force he was dreaming of, with the hope that this will help him tackle the counterfeit currency note menace swiftly. He hires one person from every intelligence agency to make sure the task force is a success. Michael is ten steps ahead of Mansoor at times, and then Mansoor is ahead of Michael. This cat-and-mouse chase begins all over again with a new player joining Mansoor’s team, Sunny and Firoz. Though they are not aware of Michael’s thirst to capture Mansoor, all they know is to stay ahead of Michael’s team by making sure their plans are not thwarted. He comes close to capturing Sunny and Firoz, but things go out of hand very quickly. Michael is the kind of man who wouldn’t want a medal or an award that would commemorate his success. He would rather spend time hunting the culprits than receive awards. He believes in doing the job by giving it 200% and not letting anything slow him down. Michael Vedanayagam is a deeply flawed person and far from perfect, but what makes him likable is his need to grow from his mistakes and become a better person in the long run.
