Working with Manoj Bajpayee was a gift, says The Family Man actor Shahab Ali

Along with Manoj Bajpayee, Priyamani, Sharib Hashmi and some others, Shahab Ali also reprises his role in the second season of the Amazon Prime Video web-series The Family Man.

Speaking about his character, the dreaded terrorist Sajid, Shahab Ali said in a statement, “Sajid is a lone wolf. He doesn’t like to take orders from anyone and 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 2, he is much fiercer and evil. His energy is one notch up from the previous season.”

Shahab, a graduate from the National School Drama (NSD), was thrilled when he learnt that he would be playing the antagonist to Manoj Bajpayee's character in the show.

“I used to idolize him in my training days," the actor said. "The experience of working with him has been a true gift and I have 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 screen space with him in this show is icing on the cake.”

Highlighting Bajpayee’s qualities, Shahab continued, “In Season 2, 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 within the boundary of the scene and the character. So, there is always an element of surprise without any fear of going off track. As a co-actor, this approach gave me great material to explore Sajid as well, especially in our scenes together.”

Shahab has several scenes with Samantha Akkineni in the second season. “Their [Sajid and Raji's] graph is so intricate and beautiful," he said. "Samantha is extremely professional and focused and that’s why we had some really magical moments while acting together. It was smooth and effortless with her. She responds to improvisations and is really charged emotionally. It was a privilege to share the screen with her. This experience will surely help me in the future.”

Raj Nidimoru, one of the creators of the show with Krishna DK, hoped Shahab would get to play different characters in the future. “Shahab has a great range," he said. "I am just hoping he won’t get typecast, because there is much more in him, and he gets to do a variety of great roles because he has the potential to pull it off!”