Having played a cop in Aranyak (2021) and a lawyer in Patna Shuklla, it seems Raveena Tandon is enjoying hardcore portrayals on screen. We have exclusively learnt that the actor’s next is a political drama.

A source close to the project says, “The web series is titled Dynasty. While Raveena plays the protagonist in the show, veteran singer-actor Talat Aziz will also play a key character.”

It marks Tandon’s fifth OTT outing after Aranyak, Patna Shuklla, Karmma Calling and Ghudchadi.

The source adds, “The series is being directed by Sahil Sangha. Raveena and the cast will start shooting for it in the second half of October. The locations are still being finalized, but a large part of it is likely to be shot in Delhi.”

Shooting in these trying times is as much a matter of luck as it demands logistical support. Ekta Kapoor learnt it first-hand as her offering, Dynasty, hit a roadblock within days of going on floors in Delhi. After the daily Coronavirus cases in the capital breached the 25,000-mark on Sunday, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal announced a six-day lockdown from 10 pm Monday to the early hours of April 26. This posed a problem for the Arya Babbar-led political thriller that was to be filmed in Delhi over the next 14 days. 

With desperate times calling for desperate measures, the unit of the Pankaj Batra-directed venture — which is said to be inspired by the Gandhi family — did the next best thing. “We are a slim team of 30. When the cases started rising and lockdown rumours started doing the rounds, we took a call to move to Chandigarh. Considering our director and Arya have a strong team of local technicians there with whom they work routinely, they felt the show could be shot comfortably in the city,” reveals a source from the unit.

According to the original plan, Batra — who has previously made Punjabi films Naughty Jatts (2013) and Goreyan Nu Daffa Karo (2014) — was to kick off the Chandigarh leg only after the crew had canned important sequences in the capital. However, a reworking of the schedule was necessary under the given circumstances. The source adds, “After doing a round of RT-PCR tests, we moved to Chandigarh where we’re filming in a bio-bubble. No more than 10 people are allowed on the floor. We are running antigen tests twice daily, and RT-PCR tests on a bi-weekly basis.” A 20-day stint in the Haryana capital has been chalked out, post which they hope to return to Delhi.  

Producer Tanveer Bookwala and the team at ALT Balaji remained unavailable for comment.