Mumbai: ZEE5 today launched Rangbaaz, an action-packed show with a stellar cast – Saqib Saleem, Aahana Kumra, Tigmanshu Dhulia, Ranvir Shorey and Ravi Kishan. Directed by Bhav Dhulia, written by Siddharth Mishra and produced by JAR Pictures, Rangbaaz premieres globally across 190+ countries on 22nd December on ZEE5. Inspired by real-life events, the nine-episode web series shows the journey of one of the most feared gangsters from Uttar Pradesh in the 90s.
Set against the rustic background of India’s heartland, the UP of the 90s, Rangbaaz revolves around the story of Shiv Prakash Shukla, played by Saqib Saleem. It revolves around a man engaging in the dark and dirty world of crime and shows the human side of one of the most feared gangsters of the region from the ’90s.
Tarun Katial, CEO, ZEE5 India said, “After a phenomenal year, we are now closing on a high with the launch of Rangbaaz, an action-packed series. Our ongoing research has indicated huge interest among our audience for series inspired or based on true life incidents. While this show is based on characters in North India, it is essentially a universal story and would resonate with our audiences across the country. Rangbaaz has a mix of strong and relatable characters played by class actors, and we are confident that it will get us a phenomenal response from across the nation. And to support this initiative we have launched a multi-media marketing campaign that is quite unlike anything that anybody has seen before from us.”
Saqib Saleem said, “The character that I play in Rangbaaz is called Shiv Prakash Shukla. The guy has a lot of layers and I got to know that when Bhav, the director and Siddharth Mishra, the writer, came to me with the script and narrated the episodes to me. I instantly fell in love with my character because I was getting to play a gangster. I don’t know if people are aware, but I have always wanted to play a gangster. Not for any other reason but that I wanted to understand a guy’s psyche whose sense of right and wrong is very different from who I am. As an actor, it has been a completely satisfying experience working on this creatively. To be able to do something like this at this point in my career, I am thankful to ZEE5 for making this for me. Luckily, I have had a great journey on this and I’ve had a young team who has worked day in and day out to make this possible and from all the reactions we are getting, I hope when people watch this, they also enjoy it as much as we enjoyed making it.”
AahanaKumra said, “Besides being the lead character’s love interest, Babita also has a lot of layers. She is love struck yet fiercely loyal, brave, street smart and knows to stand up for herself despite societal pressures. Saqib is a thorough professional and it was great fun working with him and the entire team. Cannot wait for ZEE5 subscribers to watch the show!”
Bhav Dhulia, Director said, “Rangbaaz has been interesting and challenging for me. We had to show Shiv Prakash Shukla as one of the most feared gangsters of the region from the ’90s as well as his human side.It was a fantastic experience working with a power-packed and unique ensemble cast like Tigmanshu Dhulia, Ravi Kishan, RanvirShorey, Saqib and Aahana.”
Since its launch in February 2018, ZEE5 has invested heavily in original content across languages – Hindi, Marathi, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam. And dubbed versions of all the original content – including movies and web series – are available in all languages. This coupled with the regional subscription packs we released earlier this month for the Tamil, Telugu and Kannada-speaking audience has proven to be a winner for the platform.
