Actors Asha Negi, Ramandeep Yadav on Ali Baba Aur 40 Bhoot and why they said yes

Actor Asha Negi has stepped into a genre that pushes her beyond her usual comfort zone with Ali Baba Aur 40 Bhoot. Negi, who plays Alisha, a ghost hunter in the horror series, opened up about the challenges of shooting the 40-episode show and what made her say yes to the supernatural world. In an exclusive interview with India Today Digital, Negi and her co-star Ramandeep Yadav spoke about the challenges of bringing the series to life and what convinced them to take on the supernatural project.

Talking about her experience, Asha said, “Working on the series was challenging. It has 40 episodes, and there was a lot of harness work. Horror is such an important element of the show, so there was a lot of smoke used during the night shoots to create that depth and eerie vibe. We shot in Orchha, Madhya Pradesh, for two months. It had also been a long time since I had worked on television, so staying in one place for four months at a stretch was quite tough for me.”

Adding, the actor explained why stepping outside her comfort zone and convincing the audience to believe in the world of horror proved to be one of the biggest challenges.

“It was very hard to convince the audience on screen. My comfort zone is romance and bringing that softness on screen. In horror, a lot of times, you have to pretend that you are scared and make it look real. But you have to actually believe in it,” the 37-year-old actor added.

Negi, who was last seen in Criminal Justice Season 4 (2025), was also asked about her absence from the screen and what has kept her away. The actor said she had been waiting for a project that would excite her creatively and give her something different to explore.

“I was just waiting for a good script. The last one was Criminal Justice, and after that, I was waiting for something that would excite me, and then Ali Baba Aur 40 Bhoot just happened. I also felt that maybe I have been trying all my life to do different kinds of roles — including television, jismein bahu thi, beti thi (I was a daughter-in-law and daughter). Then, in films, in Criminal Justice, I played a grey character. And in Ali Baba, it's about a young girl; there was a certain youthful energy, and we were trying to catch ghosts. We had a lot of fun while shooting for the show. Kuch mujhe different laga (I found something different) and I went for it,” she told us.

Ramandeep, who played Rajjo in Prime Video’s Raakh, saw his role as Kinnu in Ali Baba Aur 40 Bhoot as an opportunity to step out of the intense mental space he had been in while working on the series. The actor said he is grateful that the role was offered to him during the shoot of Raakh.

“I had just done such a dark role (in Raakh), so I was looking for some fun. I wanted to go into another state of mind where I could feel healed and relaxed. Then I got the audition for Kinnu, and I realised this was the escape I needed. With my hair coloured red, the cool attitude and the chill atmosphere were the best for me. The major thing was that I was getting to do something different,” he shared.

He added, “When I was shooting for Raakh, and it was about to end, I got the test for Kinnu. To come out of a character like Rajjo, I felt it was right to go into a role like Kinnu. I really liked that I had another role lined up right after it, because I could deliberately get into a different mindset and come out of that character.”

Ali Baba Aur 40 Bhoot also stars Vishal Vashishtha, Ujjwal Chopra and Mridul Das, among others in key roles. The series is currently streaming on JioHotstar with new episodes releasing every Friday.