Tahir Raj Bhasin on presenting vulnerabilities of men on screen & putting across feminine perspective

Actor Tahir Raj Bhasin has gone out on a limb with his recent projects. Pushing himself as an actor he has gone experimental traversing through genres, mediums and characters. In his two recently released web shows ‘Ranjish Hi Sahi’ and ‘Yeh Kaali Kaali Ankhein’ and the upcoming film, ‘Looop Lapeta’, Tahir probes the vulnerable side of men through his characters as he delves into their psyche, something many male actors may refrain from doing in the initial stage of their careers. In an exclusive conversation with India TV, the actor spoke about presenting the vulnerabilities of men on screen and putting across the feminine perspective.

Over the years, mainstream cinema has seen women as objects of desire, however, it is not the case with Tahir’s web series. ‘Yeh Kaali Kaali Ankhein’ recounts the narrative of a young man who is torn between a woman who loves him (Shweta Tripathi) and one who seeks him (Anchal Singh). The hero is a prize that can only be won by the daughter of the central characters, performed by the versatile Saurabh Shukla. Whereas, ‘Ranjish Hi Sahi’ is set against the backdrop of the golden era of 70s’ Bollywood. It circles around the lives of struggling film director Shankar played by Tahir, diva Aamna played by Amala Paul and Shankar’s wife Anju played by Amrita.

Talking about this reversal of sorts, Tahir credited OTT for opening up the space. He said, “That’s one of the fascinating things about the OTT medium. Of course, love triangles have been explored from the beginning of time in Indian films, but when you do it on OTT, it gives you the timeline to see things from different perspectives. We know what Shankar feels but here we also know how do Shanker’s wife and his love interest feel in ‘Ranjish Hi Sahi’. You get to see things from the feminine perspective. This makes it more interesting because you’re engaging the audience from different dynamics in the story.”

“In the case of ‘Yeh Kaali Kaali Aankhein’, the challenge is that the series is the story of an ordinary man, who just wants a simple life with the girl that he loves. He wants to settle down in a town, do his job. But when a politician’s daughter decides that this is a man that she wants to marry, it turns the tables and creates this whirlwind of entanglement in his life. And it’s how an ordinary man in extraordinary circumstances has to change to reclaim his life. The larger theme of the show, of course, is how when a power structure takes over your life or keeps you under surveillance, you adapt as a common man,” he added.

Given the roles that Tahir has picked in recent times, he doesn’t appear to be reluctant to display the susceptibility of men on screen. The actor shared, these are some of the mindful decisions that he made.

“It actually is a conscious shift. The initial characters that I have played in the early part of my career, whether it was Walt in Mardaani, Shiv in Force 2, or even Derek in Chhichhore were very alpha male characters that were portrayed as larger than life studs, for lack of a better, word. But I really feel the range in acting should be that to be a man, it doesn’t mean that you have to be shown as someone larger than life. It is perfectly acceptable to be real, vulnerable, emotional, and flawed at times. And that is what is exciting about all of these projects that are coming up,” he told us.

The actor will continue to follow the streak with ‘Looop Lapeta’. The film shows the thrilling journey of Savi and Satya. Tahir is a reckless love interest of Taapsee who loses cash belonging to a mobster in a gambling bid. Now it is Savi who has to save her ‘useless boyfriend’. The film, which is based on the German experimental thriller ‘Run Lola Run’, is helmed by debutant director Aakash Bhatia and will premiere on Netflix on Feb 4.