He has been the perfect embodiment of the boy-next-door all his career, but when Neeraj Pandey cast Aftab Shivdasani as a RAW agent in Disney+ Hotstar’s Special Ops 1.5, the world sat up and took notice. While he played a pivotal role in the four-episode series, his character Vijay Kumar was killed off to a face-off with the mastermind. But the actor has “no regrets” about his early death in the series. “I knew exactly what I was getting into. I am happy that the show got massive appreciation and enough people took notice of me in a new light,” says the actor, who is nominated in the Best Supporting Actor (Male) Series for the Kay Kay Menon-starrer at mid-day and Radio City Hitlist OTT Awards.

For someone who began acting at 14 months—a commercial ad as a baby—and his subsequent years in the industry, Shivdasani found it challenging to not improvise on set. “I had to memorise a lot, especially since I had to narrate information at the RAW office to Himmat Singh’s character, which could not be improvised. It was a challenge to ensure I don’t get any facts or numbers wrong,” says the actor, adding that it was also difficult to reign in his reaction when Gautami Kapoor’s character who plays his wife in the series announced her pregnancy. “Since I am a RAW officer, [my reaction] had to be underplayed at the same time to still look genuine because that is the biggest news for any man. So, it had to be subtle, yet endearing and honest.” Shivdasani is currently in talks for a few movies and web shows that will help broaden his horizon as an actor. “[I am experimenting with] genres I have never done before,” he concludes.

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