Set in old Ghaziabad, Bakaiti is a feel-good slice-of-life comic family drama on the Kataria family, which is always short of funds. While the father earns little, the children raise a ruckus when the daughter is asked to share her room with her younger brother. At the centre of it all is Rajesh Tailang, who plays the head of the family, forever frustrated with life. The actor, who had appeared in Govind Nihalani’s gritty 1998 film Hazaar Chaurasi ki Maa opposite Seema Biswas and more recently in Mirzapur, Bandish Bandits and Delhi Crime, speaks to t2 on his new Zee5 show.

What is this term 'middleclassiyat' used in the trailer?

Mere andar bahut hai woh cheez. I am from a middle-class family. When you hear the term middle-class, it is usually used by other classes. But the word 'middleclassiyat' is such that we, middle-class folk, can also use it. People who belong to the middle-class are such that we have our dreams, we are struggling daily and unable to reach our aspirations, and yet we are happy. They steal happiness from every moment.

Tell us about your role and the Kataria family.

The role I am playing is of a lawyer, Sanjay Kataria, who lacks work and therefore lacks money. He doesn’t get cases or gets small ones. He makes do by sitting with a table outside the court and filing affidavits. He has a wife, Sushma, and two teenaged children with their own sets of problems. His father-in-law stays with them. Sanjay also has a younger brother, his wife and his father stays with them. The story is about issues in their day-to-day life, the fights they have, the truths and the lies they tell...

You had started your career with Doordarshan, right?

Yes. I had worked in India’s first daily soap, Shanti.

In those days, DD used to show a lot of comedies centred around middle-class families. Does Bakaiti remind you of those?

This story has that kind of old world charm. I remember films of Hrishikesh Mukherjee, where people used to stay in small houses, with small gardens. They fought, ran around trying to fix problems of electricity, water supply etc. in those houses. The earth and sky used to be theirs. Life had not become bottled in apartments. In this show, the story is today’s but there is that old-world feel.

You have done a variety of roles in your career — supernatural horror in Dahan, comic social drama in Pagglait, spy thiller in Ulajh, investigative drama in Crime Beat… Is there a novelty in your role of the mediocre lawyer Sanjay Kataria, who seems to be harassed in his family life and frustrated in his professional life?

I have played a family head in some series but their stories were different. Pani ki tanki bhar gayi ya nahin was not a problem for my character in Bandish Bandits, whose struggle was to preserve his musical legacy, or in Mirzapur, where staying alive is all one could wish for. They were from a different world.

You are a poet as well. Your book, Chand pe Chai, got released in 2022. Your brother, Sudhir Tailang, was a political cartoonist. Do you want to venture into the standalone comic space or explore any other facet of your creativity?

I want to do more theatre. When I used to do theatre, I used to do stand-up comedy in Rajasthani when I used to stay in Bikaner. That term did not exist then. Main ab sochta hoon woh stand-up hi tha. Mujhe lagta tha ki main khali khada hokey chutkuley suna raha hoon. (laughs) I used to do that in Rajasthan language. The fun and pun used to come out only in the vernacular. This was before my National School of Drama days. My second book of poetry is coming out. Other than that, I want to make documentaries. Those appeal to me more these days than fiction. I want to catch the reality of life with the least manipulation.

In fiction, Indian viewers now have access to content on three media, film, TV or OTT. When you are approached, can you tell from the script it is meant for which medium?

Oh yes. The script writing is different. A TV serial can be of 500 episodes. The story can be stretched indefinitely. Over time, there can be a bit of overlap between TV and OTT shows. Some recent OTT shows have started seeming like TV. But the format of storytelling is different. Earlier, people used to watch OTT on their mobiles or laptop. But now smart TVs have become popular, so people are watching OTT shows on TV screens as well in the drawing room. Technology and market dictate art.

What comes next from you?

A series by the makers of Mirzapur is about to come. There is Season 3 of Delhi Crime and a film that I have done.