Talking change

Express News Service

HYDERABAD:  Think regal roles, think theatre artiste Mohammad Ali Baig. But deviating from this niche, Baig is all set to showcase a whole new avatar in Telugu OTT series In The Name Of God which is slated to release this weekend on AHA video.

A man who has donned the hats of several characters for plays such as Quli: Dilon ka Shahzaada, Under an Oak Tree, Alone, Baig is now stepping out of his comfort zone. “I play a character called Rossi, a psycho drug peddler who is charming at the same time. He entices and traps people for his greed for blood,” says Baig, who will perform his play Alone, starring his wi f e Noor Baig and himself, once the lockdown in Bengaluru eases to a larger extent.

However, for his new OTT series, which is directed by Vidyasaagar Muthukumar and produced by Suresh Krishna, Baig has been working on the role of a ‘baddie’ for a while now. “I began actual preparation for the character when I was in Russia in March 2020, where we had a long break during the shoot of Tamil film, Cobra. For this role, I also recollected my time spent in Tel Aviv, incorporating the body language of hippies. All this because Rossi is of Israeli origin in the series,” he says.

Even as he just makes his OTT debut, he feels that although platforms have immense potential, makers are overdoing it with gory, sleazy and violent content. But at the same time, this is what sells, he says, adding, “It is a very convenient platform with expansive features, but makers must utilise it wisely. When a trend catches on, it is difficult for directors with different ideas to thrive. Because plat – forms won’t accept the content without the elements of foul language, goriness and sleaziness.”

The making of In The Name Of God was scheduled between September 2020 and March 2021, and was one of the very few regional series that went ahead with the shooting amidst the pandemic. “The initial shooting days were scary. There were a lot of do’s and don’ts which were difficult to comply with. We had masks, PPE kits which were to be worn and removed quite often.

Sometimes I wondered why we were even shooting. It was difficult to manage the first schedule, but we got used to it thereafter,” says Baig, who is also a part of SS Rajamouli’s Baahubali web series and Imtiaz Ali’s She season 2 for Netflix, which is currently being shot.