DI Ray creator didn't want deaf character to be a "victim"
"He's got a bit of a bad boy edge, he's not squeaky clean."
The creator and writer of ITV crime drama DI Ray has said that it was imperative Rav Mochani, who's deaf, wasn't portrayed as a "victim".
"He's got a bit of a bad boy edge, he's not squeaky clean," Maya Sondhi said of the character, who's played by deaf actor Taha Rahim.
"I didn't want him to be a victim."
Sondhi went on to talk about her dad, who is blind and played into her thinking when writing Rav.
"He's very much working, he's very much not a victim," she added. "He's the strongest person in my life, even though he's very calm and gentle. And I wanted it to be that."
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In the drama's second season, Ray is leading an investigation into the murder of high-profile criminal Frank Chapman.
His family believe Rav, a member of a rival crime family, is responsible, and kidnap him as revenge – which threatens all-out turf war on the streets of Birmingham.
"Acting opposite someone who is hearing-impaired, it makes you really look at the person," said star Parminder Nagra, who described Rahim as "such a fun, lively, kind person".
"I couldn't just be doing anything [when I was in a scene with him]. It was really making me communicate more clearly."
Sondhi also said that they consulted with Rav on numerous details to ensure that the character was written as authentically as possible.
"We asked him a lot, as well, like his advice on how he'd check his hearing aid, and the sounds when it drops out, and then you're supposed to hear it how he would hear it," she said.
"I did want to do a lot more of the audience hearing what he hears. You can't do it too much, obviously, because you can lose people. But on Strictly [Come Dancing], that moment was so powerful [with Rose Ayling-Ellis] when they turned the music off.
"That really stuck with me, just experiencing what other people experience. Like at night when I'm going for a wee in the dark, that's my dad's life. He doesn't know what time of day it is, he just lives in darkness.
"So it's really interesting to explore that, because we can forget. We can get very absorbed in our own world, in our own experiences, our own everything."
Sondhi added that she was "very proud" of Rahim, who is a relative newcomer, and that he was the "most beautiful person to work with".
DI Ray seasons 1-2 are available to stream now on ITVX.
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