Team Betaal on zombies, military action and shooting in the hills – The New Indian Express

Express News Service

Produced by Red Chillies Entertainment and out on Netflix, the four-part miniseries Betaal is a modern-day zombie horror with a colonial twist.

The show focuses on an elite counterinsurgency squad who arrive at a remote village to clear out a highway.

In doing so, they end uptriggering an ancient curse, which unleashes an armyof East India Company zombies.

For Director Patrick Graham, the battle between new and old colonisers was a blast.

ALSO READ |'Betaal' review: A depressing, uneven zombiehorror

In England, they like to think of their glorious past, when in reality it was a series of atrocities, says the British writer-director working in Mumbai, calling the series his hate letter to England.

So its a bit of a cathartic release seeing modern-day Indian soldiers machine-gunning a whole bunch of redcoats.Betaal is created by Patrick and co-directed by him and Nikhil Mahajan. Nikhil is known for directing the 2013 Marathi thriller Pune-52. He also helmed the superhero film Baji (2015).

For their new venture, Nikhil and Patrick wanted to blend the zombie genre with the figure of the Betaal, a revenant who haunts charnel grounds and is analogous to the western vampire.

We picked up elements from the known Vikram Aur Betaal stories and merged them into our fantastical zombie-action narrative, Nikhil says.

While the show is not based on that legend, it has the right amount of familiarity for an audience to smile. Betaal is led by Viineet Kumar, making his horror debut after a slew of sports films (Mukkabaaz, Gold, Saand Ki Aankh). Viineet plays Vikram Sirohi, the deputy of the crack Baaz Squad.

Along with his team, hes tasked to uproot a tribal settlement and make way for the lucrative project. Blinded by duty, Vikram uses force and violence on the alleged insurgents, while also reeling from PTSD.

I was not interested in the stereotypical portrayal of a military man, Viineet says.

My character, Vikram, is deeply troubled, confused, and weak. I wanted to explore that psyche, the internal battle he fights alongside the external one.

Being a doctor, Viineet researched about the mental health of soldiers who return from conflict. I have many friends in the forces.

PTSD is a common thing among our military personnel, though in India we dont talk much about it. Aahana Kumra, who plays deputy commander Ahluwalia, says she always wanted to essay a soldier. Aahanas grandfather was in the police force. Her mother has been a police officer for 40 years.

Ive always had a deep admiration for female officers, she says

. I think if I wasnt an actor I would have been in the armed forces. Betaal was filmed in Igatpuri and Lonavala in Maharashtra. Aahana recalls the grueling shoot in the hilly jungle terrain.

We were shooting at a 45-degrees temperature with guns, batons, and knives in our hands. It was monsoon with scorpions and snakes around us. I also got to experience prosthetics for the first time.

Actor Jitendra Joshi plays the antagonist in Betaal. His character, Mudhalvan, is a greedy contractor, and nothing like the affable cop he played in Sacred Games. Jitendra argues he was eager to break type.

Playing another Katekar would have added one more room to my house, he says, but not bring creative satisfaction. The actor points out the legacy of yesteryear actor Pran.

Pran Sahab was a wonderful human being but whenever he came on screen, people would be scaredof him. I wanted to dosomething similar with Mudhalvan. I wanted to disgust the audience.

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Team Betaal on zombies, military action and shooting in the hills - The New Indian Express

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