Exclusive! Jaideep Ahlawat and Zeeshan Ayyub talk about their upcoming dark comedy thriller, Bloody Brothers

Two brothers, Jaggi and Daljeet, with strikingly opposite characters, meet each other after ages, only to get into trouble. The two find themselves at wits' end when they run over an old man accidentally. What follows is their fun camaraderie as they try to dissect every situation and cover up the accident. But not everything is as it seems and the upcoming series, Bloody Brothers explores that. It tells a twisted tale of the two brothers and how deep have they dug their own graves due to this bloody mess they have gotten themselves into.

Directed by Shaad Ali and produced by Applause Entertainment in association with BBC Studios India, the dark comedy series stars Jaideep Ahlawat and Zeeshan Ayyub in lead roles. It also features Satish Kaushik, Shruti Seth, Tina Desai, Jitendra Joshi, Maya Alagh, Mugdha Godse and Yuri Suri.

The lead actors, Jaideep Ahlawat and Zeeshan Ayyub, in a conversation with OTTplay, talk about their upcoming show, sharing longer screen time with each other, shooting in Ooty and more.

Excerpts:

The trailer of your show, Bloody Brothers is out and is getting good responses. How do you feel currently?

Jaideep: Happy, of course.

Zeeshan: It feels good. Jo aapne kia hai, wo logon ko pasand aa raha hai, trailer dekh kar. So I am also really happy.

What was it about the show that got you to say yes to it?

Zeeshan: I think the story is the first and foremost reason and the kind of twists it has. Obviously, also the ensemble of great actors like Jaideep, Tinu, Satish and Maya ji and many more. And Shaad sir was directing it. So, everything just came together and I was like we have to be a part of this.

Jaideep: Same, cut copy paste whatever he's said.

The show is said to be based on the British show, Guilt. Have you seen the series before or referred to it before shooting Bloody Brothers?

Jaideep: No

Zeeshan: No, I didn't. I didn't want to refer. Phir aapki imagination khatam ho jati hai. We wanted to treat this like an original screenplay. That was the idea behind not watching it.

I believe the two of you are coming together for the first time on screen. So how was the experience working on the show?

Jaideep: We have earlier worked together on a film but it was for a short duration. It was for Shah Rukh Khan's Raees. But this is the first time we are coming together to share screen space for this long, which is good.

You had earlier said that it was fun shooting together. Could you share some fond memories of the shoot in Ooty?

Jaideep: It was fun. The location was good. Mumbai mein kaafi garmi thi to hum easy space mein the waha. Thodi acchi khasi theek thaak thand thi. Usmein bahut maza aaya. The entire cast and crew were good. We were all in a quiet, calm and happy space. Maze maze mein shoot hua hai sab.

The two of you have worked on OTT shows before. Do you find any difference working on this medium, compared to other mediums?

Zeeshan: As an actor, there is no difference. Jaise hum film mein kaam karte hai, waise he OTT mein kaam karte hai. Aapko bahut saare episodes ke liye apna character graph sochna hai. That's the only little difference. Other than that, how to approach the character and how to perform it remains the same.

Do you see the long character graph that you just mentioned as an advantage?

Zeeshan: There is an advantage obviously. On a web show, you get to detail out the character graph. But it can be a challenge too. You shoot a scene from episode 1 and then episode 4 and later, episode 6 on the same day, so it can be quite challenging for the first few days to get the character graph.

Jaideep: As he said, it's quite a task to create a character graph when you are working on so many episodes but it is interesting. It takes about the first five to six days to register in your mind. Once you understand it, the process gets smooth.