OTTplay Exclusive! Shahab Ali: I would like to play a cliched romantic hero opposite Kiara Advani

Shahab Ali is gradually making his mark in the industry. The budding actor rose to fame after portraying the role of a terrorist, Sajid, in The Family Man series and now portraying the role of a 90s gangster in Ek Thi Begum 2.

In an exclusive interview with OTTplay, the actor bared his heart about his experience of playing a non-hero character in the show as well as his future projects and his views on critic reviews. Excerpts.

Speaking of what intrigued him to be a part of the show, Shahab said, “My character Shaqil Ansari is a perfectionist kind of a guy. The arc of this character is very good. He starts from somewhere else and towards the end, you see his real self and this is what intrigued me to portray this role.”

When asked if the training for The Family Man worked for him in this show or he had to prep differently for Ek Thi Begum 2, the actor said, “My training of action happened much before and it comes from my earlier acting days. I’ve played a lot of roles in shows, films and theatres which helped me in my latest show and even the Manoj Bajpayee starrer. And I can adapt to new techniques really quick.”

Talking about the theme of the show, the actor mentioned, “Like our director Sachin Darekar, I’m also intrigued about the underworld and the elements and principles of the gangster world. It’s unknown to most of the people in the society and that’s the most intriguing part of working on a gangster based film and that too a real-life story. There is so much to explore and work on in these kinds of projects.”

Telling his opinion on how Ek Thi Begum 2 is one of the great action-thriller shows among others, Shahab mentioned to OTTplay that there are so many factors. “I have to mention that we have a strong female protagonist because there are very few shows that have the strong lead character as we have. Another factor is that the show explores the 80s-90s era in such a beautiful and watch-worthy way. From costume to set, everything is to the point and the action sequences are really great,” he added.

Ask him what kind of characters he would like to play in future apart from action non-hero roles and the Kedarnath actor mentions, “I’m done with the antagonist roles. Now I want to explore different shades as an actor. I would love to play the role of a romantic hero in a cliche romantic film. I desperately want to do that. I hope someone sees and notices some romance in me and offer me that.”

“I have done a few romantic roles in theatres but now I want to do romance as well as comedy in films and shows. I would like to star opposite Kiara Advani,” he shared.

When asked if critic reviews matter to the actor, Shahab replies that of course it matters and not only that but the audience’s validation is also equally important.

The 32-year-old actor also revealed that currently, he’s shooting for a feature film but it is yet to be announced.