Dino Morea listened to music to get into the skin of Shaibani Khan for Disney+Hotstar’s The Empire

The actor spoke about his preparation for the character, his look and dialogue delivery for the series at a press conference.

Dino Morea as Shaibani Khan, in a still from the official trailer

At a virtual press conference for The Empire, the much-awaited series on Disney+Hostar, Dino Morea has opened up about his character and how he delivered his dialogues in Urdu without any difficulty. Dino, who is hitherto known for his chocolate-boy image on celluloid, is all set to break the mould and slip into the shoes of a fierce, frightening warrior and the antagonist in the series, who is pitted against the Mughal emperor Babur. The series marks his return to the streaming platform following the successful reception to his latest Disney+Hotstar series, Hostages 2.

Dino plays Shaibani Khan, whom he has described as a man of many shades, from being ‘menacing, shrewd to downright scary.’ The role promises a never-seen-before avatar in the actor’s career so far. The Raaz actor went on to say that when he put his costume on, he became the character. He added that the nuances, ‘complexity, love and hate’ for Shaibani Khan make him stand out.

ALSO READ: Director Mitakshara Kumar takes comparison of The Empire with Game of Thrones as a 'compliment'

Dino talked about how he underwent a complete transformation to get into the skin of the character and listened to music suitable to the mood and situation the character was in at that point. Dino listened to a song just before he did his first scene of meeting Babur, played by Kunal Kapoor, to act out the style of gait exactly as he had visualised in his head. “And when I was doing that scene, the song was playing in my head which helped me walk the way I wanted to,” he explained.

Morea took to his Instagram handle today to share snippets from the epic saga. Have a look at the post.

The 45-year-old actor also stated that he could pick up and deliver Urdu lines fluently. Dino also praised the makeup and costume team on crafting perfect costumes to capture the personality of his character, along with minutiae like his hair and scars rendering a ‘deadly yet desirable’ edge to the warrior.

ALSO READ: The Empire: A digital magnum opus on Disney+Hotstar

The series is directed by Mitakshara Kumar and is backed by Monisha Advani and Madhu Bhojwani (Emmay Entertainment). The Disney+Hotstar special features an interesting cast that includes Shabana Azmi along with Drashti Dhami, Aditya Seal and Sahher Bamba in important roles. The Empire will start streaming from August 27 exclusively on Disney+Hotstar.

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