Experience of working with Manoj Bajpayee has been a true gift, says Shahab Ali

Bollywood actor Shahab Ali who plays the main antagonist opposite Manoj Bajpayee in Amazon Prime's web series The Family Man (Season 1 & 2) directed by Raj & DK has been in the news for his magnificent performance. The Family Man has been the most-watched/streamed Indian show over the weekend.

Shahab who is seen playing the role of Sajid in the show spoke about his character , "Sajid is a lone wolf. He doesn't like to take orders from anyone and he loves to do things his way. He is a bomb specialist and an ISIS trained terrorist. He is a stubborn, dark and vengeful person. He is sharp and calculative but at the same time very aggressive, if needed. In season two, he is much more fierce and evil. His energy is one notch up from the previous season."

Shahab who has completed 3 years acting training from National School of Drama, New Delhi (NSD) says it was a dream come true when he got to know that he will be the main antagonist opposite Manoj Bajpayee. Shahab said, " I used to idolize him during my training days. The experience of working with him has been a true gift and I have truly enjoyed every second spent in his presence. The experience was much greater than what I had expected. We developed a great bond after the first season. Sharing the screen space with him in this show is icing on the cake. In season two, we had some great moments together. The best thing about acting with Manoj sir is that he improvises and plays around in the scene and yet stays in the boundary of the scene and the character. So, there is always an element of surprise without any fear of going off track. And as a co-actor, this approach gave me great material to explore Sajid as well, especially in our scenes together."

Shahab who also shares screen space with actress Samantha Akkineni says he was very intrigued about the relationship of Sajid and Raji in the series. "Their graph is so intricate and beautiful. Samantha, as an actor, is extremely professional and focused and that's why we had some really magical moments while acting together. It was very smooth and effortless with her. She responds to improvisations and is really charged emotionally. It was a great privilege to share screen with her. This experience will surely help me in future.", said Shahab

Speaking about Shahab’s performance, Director duo Raj and DK commented, “Shahab is a natural and has had a fantastic formal training as well which makes him a complete package. He is a director’s actor and grasps his character with ease. His scenes with Manoj Bajpayee, Samantha have come out really well, so it's always interesting to put him with other actors and see him emote and respond to improvisations”.

Raj added , "Shahab has such a great range, I am just hoping he won't get typecasted because there's much more to this in him. And he gets to do a variety of great roles.. because he has that potential to pull it off with ease!"

Previously we have seen Shahab in Kedarnath, he also played the iconic role of Salim in Broadway Style Musical show Mughal-E-Azam directed by Feroz Abbas Khan (2017-present) and played the lead Role of Zangoora in India's first Broadway Style Bollywood Musical Show Zangoora- The Gypsy Prince at Kingdom of Dreams.