Exclusive! Rajesh Tailang : Speaking in my mother tongue Rajasthani made Dahan all the more special for me

When we talk about favorite actors in Bollywood, actor Rajesh Tailang usually comes to mind. His grip over characters, along with his command over the overall craft of acting, has earned him a place as one of the highly respected actors in Bollywood both by the audience and film critics. The rise of OTT platforms has only enhanced his acting career, as shared by Tailang himself in one of his older interviews with us. 

His upcoming venture, Dahan: Raakan Ka Rahasya, seems to have made a special place in his heart.

"This is the first time I am speaking in my mother tongue Rajasthani language. It not only makes me feel proud but also the fact that there is a different kind of comfort that I have with Rajasthani. It makes the show all the more special for me. While the story of the show is very interesting, my character is constantly dealing with the tussle between his duty as a police officer and the tradition that he follows is the villager of Shilaspura. I think he is not looking at the conflict as a huge struggle because he wants to carry on with both his role, as police and as a traditionalist, with equal ease. But of course, finding the balance is what makes it tough," Rajesh Tailang told OTTplay during an exclusive interview. 

Born in Bikaner, Rajasthan, Rajesh Tailang started his career in acting with a TV series for Doordarshan, titled Shanti. He then went on to deliver some of his finest performances in Hindi such as like Hazaar Chaurasi Ki Maa, Mangal Pandey: The Rising, Siddharth, Omerta, Commando 3, to name a few.

The actor has also appeared in web series' like Mirzapur, Selection Day, Crackdown, Bandish Bandits and the award-winning Netflix Original Delhi Crime 1&2.      

As some of you already know, Dahan is not the first time that Rajesh Tailang is playing a police officer as he has already delivered a critically acclaimed performance as a cop in both the seasons of Emmy-winning crime drama Delhi Crime. For the uninitiated, his character Bhupender Singh in the crime-thriller show was hugely applauded for his nuanced performance.

When asked how is the new character different from the one he had just portrayed in Delhi Crime 2, the actor told us, "You see, every individual is different, so is every police officer. So my character as a policeman in Dahan is very different from what I have done in the earlier show. The world of these two stories are different, so as the characters."

Directed by Vikranth Pawar, Dahan: Raakan Ka Rahasya also features Tisca Chopra, Mukesh Tiwari, Saurabh Shukla, Ankur Nayyar, Rohan Joshi, Lehar Khan in pivotal roles and will start streaming on Disney + Hotstar from September 16.