EXCLUSIVE! Tahir Raj Bhasin: OTT has catapulted me into a different phase of my career

The versatile actor of the entertainment industry, Tahir Raj Bhasin, who made an impeccable debut with Mardaani, has been impressed the audience with his memorable portrayals in films like Chhichhore, 83 and others. In 2022, the actor had three OTT releases and all of them won the hearts of the audience. In an exclusive conversation with Firstpost, Tahir opens up on how OTT gave a boost to his career, playing layered and complex characters and more. Excerpts from the interview:

How OTT gave a boost to your career?

I think OTT has definitely catapulted me into a different phase of my career purely because of the kind of variety and diverse parts that it’s allowed me to do. Yeh Kaali Kaali Ankhein was a dramatic thriller about a romantic love story gone wrong because of an obsessive lover that was pursuing Vikrant, my character. Looop Lapeta was goofy, it was playful, it was fun, but at the heart of it, it was also romantic. It was the official adaptation of Run Lola Run and Ranjish Hi Sahi was a biopic of an aspiring director-filmmaker, who had a love affair with a lit. And how that takes into a whirlwind of life events, that changes the way he tells stories. And I think each one of these for me was different because they were all lead romantic parts, and it helped me transition into the romantic lead hero. And just in terms of the diversity, not only in terms of the kind of character that you’re playing. But also the medium that you’re telling the story in. One was the series format like Yeh Kaali Kaali Aankhein, which is going to go into a season 2. Ranjish Hi Sahi was a limited series and Looop Lapeta was a feature film. So to be doing diversity, not only in terms of acting but in terms of the medium in which you’re telling it was the challenge. And I am just overwhelmed at how critically well acclaimed all three projects were in the last that it caught back in the time when they release and how that love has continued to come through social media and a lot of direct feedback from the audience.

What kind of difference you notice while working on an OTT project and a theatrical film?

In terms of the performance and what you are doing on set, there is no difference. I’m doing exactly the same thing. The only thing that changes when you’re working on a series is because it’s 8 episodes, you’re shooting for that many more days. The film is shot in 45 to 50 days. You’ll be shooting for a series for about 80 to 100 days and that allows you to list with the character a little longer and also explore it a little deeper because the story is being told in an episodic format.

Whenever you are doing two projects simultaneously or there is very less gap between the first and second project and one character is dark character and the other is a very girl next door. So, how you switch from one to another like do you go through any kind of process?

That’s a great question because it happened with Looop Lapeta and Yeh Kaali Kaali Aankhein where they were set in two very different worlds. So, what definitely helps you is you got a different setup in both the sets, you’re wearing different costumes and what I like to do is take back with me one aspect of the character’s costume. So, for Satya that was a bandana he wore and for Vikrant there was a watch that Vikrant wore that I would carry back with me and on the day when you’re shooting it, you just wear that particular ornament. Music is another thing that really helps in the kind of music that both the characters, which is into would be very different. So you try and draw little differences in activities that you would do every day as both those characters that help you physically to feel a little different from what you do, on one set, to the other.

Does playing dark characters mentally exhaust you?

No, not at all. I mean, I enjoy characters that are layers and I like characters that the audience can relate to. And People call them dark characters but the way I like to look at them as flawed characters, characters that are never perfect. You don’t have all the answers, but how they managed to find their way. And that’s what I find the most relatable about them. And Looop Lapeta which was a love story and it was a love story between my and Taapsee’s character, but they were still flawed individuals. I think the audience is increasing because they are exposed to more and more International content and OTT series and films are very receptive. And in fact, they prefer characters that are not hundred per cent right all the time.

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