It’s fun to play these contrasting characters: Rajat Verma on his double role in Dahej Daasi

Rajat Verma, who is seen as Jay and Ranvijay in Ravindra Gautam and Raghuvir Shekhawat’s Dahej Daasi, which is produced under their banner Do Dooni 4 Films, is happy to be playing a double role in the show as the characters are quite different from each other. He called it an amazing experience and said that he is loving it.   

He said, “Before this, I played a negative character in Faltu, but it's very different from Ranvijay. This character is from Rajasthan, grew up on the streets, and didn't have his parents around. He grew up with a lot of hardships. When he finds out that his parents are alive and that they had a good life, he develops a lot of hatred. This hatred drives him to seek revenge and become part of the family. I’m enjoying playing this character.”   

“Through Ranvijay, I've also worked on speaking the Rajasthani language. After shooting approximately 100 episodes and around six to seven months of work, there was a point where the routine felt a bit monotonous. But now, with Ranvijay's character, I feel like I have something new and exciting to play. It’s fun to play these contrasting characters because, with Ranvijay, I can bring out a different side of myself,” he added.   Rajat also mentioned that in TV shows, actors don't get much time to get into a character. “For example, when the character of Ranvijay was introduced, we only had about three to four days to prepare. We have to work on the look, the character’s mannerisms, and their language in this short time. It can be challenging because we need to gradually get into the character while performing. I miss having more time for this process because my approach involves spending more time on the details and practicing. Sometimes this leads to errors, but with time, we usually get better at understanding and playing the character. So, this is one flaw of working in TV,” he said.   

He mentioned that getting the opportunity to play a double role in a TV show is very rare, and he feels lucky that the writers and makers have given him this chance. “I always wondered how actors manage to play double roles and how it looks on screen. Now, I have the chance to experience it myself, and I'm very happy about it. It's also a big challenge because you have to show two different moods and personalities,” he said.   

“For a positive character, you need to show innocence and positivity in the eyes. For the negative character, you need to show those traits differently. Both characters need to look and feel distinct, with different body language and expressions. Playing these two roles has been a lot of fun, and I’m really grateful for this opportunity,” he added.   

So which Bollywood actor do you think of when it comes to double roles? “When I think about playing a double role, I remember Shah Rukh Khan. His work in Duplicate and later in Paheli serves as a great reference for me. Our show also has a Rajasthani background and setup, so Paheli is particularly relevant. Initially, I hadn’t seen Shah Rukh Khan’s work when I was preparing for this character,” he said.   

“I just focused on understanding the character from the script and performing based on that. But after doing a few scenes, I watched Paheli, and he did a phenomenal job, and anyway, TV is obsessed with him and his performances. He is often cited as an example of how to portray emotions and characters effectively. So, Shah Rukh Khan was always in my mind, and his Paheli really helped me a lot while preparing for some scenes,” Rajat ended.