G Plus caught up with actor Adil Hussain, who is keeping busy with several projects in hand. He took us through his journey and beliefs in our "In Conversation"
Adil you have come a long way from your days and work in Assam to featuring in international movies, and popular series like Star Trek. Tell us about your journey from here to there.
Adil: My journey which started in the tiny little town of Goalpara, has been a fulfilling one. It has been a journey of revelations, a lot of insights, and a lot of gratitude to people who helped me even when they did not have the resources and even when they had no idea where I would go one day. As they say, nobody is self-made, you know, everybody contributes somehow or the other to your growth including your teachers in primary school, Dramatists in Goalpara town, who wrote plays because I insisted upon writing plays for me, including my friends who without having any resources, always helped me, and trusted and believed in me that I could possibly go ahead and pursue my dream to be able to act. That belief in me had been a great inspiration.
I remember I started with a small little play in 1971 when I was in kindergarten actually. It was a play called “Cat Makers and the Sailor”. It was a two-actor play and my friend Biswajit, who now lives in London, played the other role and his mother Binapani Sharma directed the play. That was sort of my initiation to a properly written script. Otherwise, I used to do a lot of clowning and enacting jokes on makeshift stages in my home, inviting my neighbourhood friends but this play was magical because half an hour felt like five minutes for me, time stood still. When time stands still for any human being, I guess we also cease to grow older. I only grew five minutes, not half an hour, it’s almost like stealing your age.
So that experience has been, probably pivotal in my pursuit of acting and an understanding that when I do something I love to do that I’m actively involved in it. It creates and enlarges my awareness about life and about other people, my relationship with my friends, parents, society, with the nation, there could be so many things which could give you a fulfilling experience of time standing still.
So theatre showed the way and since then, every year in school, although I moved from one school to the other, I continued doing theatre despite resistance from my father. Of course, he was a person who loved art, but also feared and did not trust me enough that I would be able to earn money through it and survive. He loved theatre and music and he loved literature. So he was not against art at all, but he was just worried, How will his son earn his living?
Later my father was pretty surprised that I did well in my 12th boards in spite of spending less time with my books. He said, “I wish you would’ve studied harder, you could have done even better.” But anyway, I asked if, can I go and do my under graduation in Guwahati. He agreed but said he could afford to pay me only ₹250 per month. That was in the year 1983.
Coming to Guwahati was a big decision, in life because I came in contact with people who had been doing quality theatre and I came in contact with Dhrubajit Kishore Chowdhury popularly known as Bhaya Mama. He introduced me to another world of performance, of standup comedy, but it’s not really the kind of standup comedy, that you see these days.
It’s more of a political satire and very much based on sound wisdom on society. Being a Masters’s degree holder in Assamese literature he was well-versed in the Mahabharata and mythical literature. So he was drawing examples and allegories from all and positioned himself to talk and criticise the social and political hypocrisy and problems in the society, in Assam at that time.
Gradually I shifted to doing movies in Assam between the years ‘85 - ‘90. And in 1990 I, applied for the National School of Drama because I realized that I needed to understand acting in a deeper way for me to go ahead in life.
There was no dilemma. There was no doubt about it. There were no two ways about it.
So I went ahead and, thankfully got admission to the National School of Drama (NSD). And there I got introduced to, serious theatre, to the world of theatre,
When I say serious, I’m not saying serious with a long face, but I mean the depth of knowledge, which is required in order to create a piece of art.
For me, it was momentous, to get NSD teachers who were dedicated to imparting whatever they knew to their students with so much love and so much, efficiency and sincerity. It was overwhelming for me.
And also because I was a bit older than most of my classmates, my maturity that came along with age and also with the body of work I had done before I came to NSD had given me a perspective to understand the quality of knowledge that I was receiving in NSD and to appreciate it.
So I truly fell in love with theatre and I gave up the dream, which I had before when I did films in Assam that I wanted to go to Mumbai and become a hero. I sort of realized that theatre is, for me, theatre is where I belong. So I didn’t go to Mumbai immediately after I graduated and as luck would have it, I got a scholarship to go to England to study acting.
I continued my training because I realized that there’s still so much more to know about acting. That journey continued for almost nine years from 1990 till 1999. And after nine years of training I did my first play “Othello” which was another turning point and milestone for my growth, because it gave me the confidence, the sort of validation that, okay, I am being recognized in a country where Shakespeare was born and by the experts of Shakespearean plays. A lot of well-known actors have done the role of ‘Othello’ including Sir Lawrence Olivier himself
After this recognition by the newspapers there, critics and audiences alike, I felt encouraged and inspired to perform and felt that I have something to share with people which is worthy enough to share. So that was a big shift in myself.
I continued doing theatre and wasn’t keen to act in movies, but I ended up doing a series called “Jasoos Vijay” because I also needed money to pay my bills.
And on a friend’s persuasion, I ended up acting in the movie “Ishqiya”. After the release of that movie, the film industry sought out me, and then films followed one after the other and here I am talking to you.
What would you say is an actor’s truth?
Adil: That is a very, loaded question it’s subjective, it cannot be similar truth even for one individual at two given times, you know, it changes. So the only thing as famously said, that is constant is change, and so is truth.
It is the moment of now, the way one perceives and feels at a specific time.
So one’s truth is based on your previous experiences, how you have lived, your beliefs your hereditary traits, your education, the conditioning you have received from your circumstances, since the time you were conceived probably in your mother’s womb and even beyond that if we believe in past lives and seek a mystical explanation of why you are here and all those things. They all are constantly within your realm of awareness. So at this point in time, whatever you feel, whatever you perceive and when I say perceive, it also means how you perceive the other person, and perceive his circumstances, all this can change.
Therefore The truth is constantly evolving and changing. I may feel very happy in life because something beautiful has happened to me and I then come to the set and I’m supposed to play something which is tragic.
So, the truth is that I am feeling happy. On top of that, I must have the ability and the knowledge of the craft in order to layer it with sadness without trying to hide my happiness from within. If you try to project more than you feel, then you are untrue. You would be a bad actor. So it is better to be truthful than imagine. I would say that is the Actors truth.
Do you first look at the role or the script, which is more important?
Adil: I think what is most important is the script. When I am sent the character brief and the synopsis. I read the synopsis and realize, okay, this is a very interesting story which is a significant piece of writing at this time and era
And then I would read the character brief and it would be like okay, this character seems to be very interesting. Then I would ask for the script but If I feel that the script is actually not keeping up with the promises which have been told in the synopsis or in the character brief and the dialogues are poor, the complexities are not there, then I won’t do it.
Also, the role cannot be great if the script is not written well right? It all comes together. It has to be all a wholesome creation.
There are actors who are good, and talented but don’t always get projects that frequently and come to the verge of giving up their quest. what do you have to say about that?
Adil: There could be so many actors like that who had given up and become bitter or depressed even and then didn’t have, support from friends or society and who had given in to alcohol and other drugs because of depression. And when I say drugs it is also medical drugs I’m talking about. And it is very sad to see that. I think that I have been lucky, and I can only express my gratitude that I have great friends who kept me on my toes and supported me. So I never ever had been in that state of mind. In fact, things kept happening for me one after the other, without having any gap.
I think if one listens very carefully, follows what one really feels like and does not give in to the fear of the uncertainty of the future, then probably somehow other forces come to help you out, to keep you cheerful, to keep giving you the courage, and belief that, this is what you have to do
I don’t think I have a clear understanding of when people fall into the trap of complaining that nothing is happening in their life and all that, then I am not sure if it’s really because of their circumstances or they had given into the fear, I can’t say that for sure.
You have to be really careful who you surround yourself with, to seek out light, to seek out good advice, to seek out good teachers or seniors who know a little bit better.
Is an actor born or is it the training that makes him an actor?
Adil: I would say you are born with a certain inclination towards something and that something might be towards acting, towards performing something in front of other people, right? That is the talent bit.
But To become an actor, would also depend upon what kind of actor you want to become. Like in India, there are Kathakali actors, some are Kudiyattam actors, Nautanki actors, some are Bollywood actors, there are independent film actors, there are Tamil actors who do larger-than-life films like RRR and KGF and then there are actors like Naseeruddin Shah and Irfaan and others
So all of them are actors, and it depends upon what kind of acting inspires and makes you feel like participating. So depending on that, whether you need training or not would arise.
For eg Arijit Singh is a Brilliant singer undoubtedly but if he has to sing like Bhimsen Joshi or Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan he has to undergo another 10-20 years of training. Now if he is interested in it is a different thing, but for them to sing in that popular genre might take only a month of practice or even less. So that is the difference between a trained actor and an untrained actor but again depends upon what kind of acting you would like to pursue, and what makes you tick.
North East has a huge pool of talent and even in acting but except for one Adil Hussain very few have made it big in the national and international scenario. Why?
Adil: There could be several factors. One is that my face is a pan-Indian face so when I go to Bengal they think I’m Bengali, when I go to Kerala, they think I’m Mallu, and I also fit into a character from the Tribal belt and so on but I have no role in that. The hardware is not my contribution.
If I take the software part of mine, then it is the ability to do hard work to understand acting, the ability to understand the complexity of a role and the ability to speak the language of the character you are playing.
My knack for languages was enhanced by my training to listen to an accent and different sounds, a fundamental understanding of the consonants and vowels and what kind of clarity you have when you speak, do you have vernacular influences when you speak English or Hindi or any other language for that matter? Have you been working hard on that?
So all these things would matter probably if someone wants to make a significant inroad into a national theme, and I don’t see many people working hard on it. I have spent in Hampi three and a half years working on the craft, on the body, on the breath, on the emotion to understand all of it.
Again there is unknowingly a certain Ignorance and prejudice I guess they have for Northeastern people who do not have the so-called mainland India’s kind of features. All these factors are there at work for the lack of representation in the film industry from the Northeast, but thankfully that is changing slowly and more people are coming into mainstream movies.
You have a second talent which runs parallel to acting, your culinary skills which are of professional level. People love having your food. Did it come naturally to you or have you also trained yourself in that?
Adil: Look I eat simple food, also because of the restrictions my work demands. I don’t want to gain weight and let my belly protrude. I take steamed vegetables, or rice plain dal and vegetables, and some eggs, I also like green leafy vegetables and sometimes Khar and Khorisa.
But when people come, for example, yesterday, a friend of mine came in the night and I, cooked the recent collection in my Culinary menu, Purono Dhakar Kacchi biryani and it turned out pretty good.
In my childhood, I always used to sit with my mom in the kitchen and watch her cook on fire on an earthen stove. Watching her cook I never knew that I would fall in love with cooking.
But then when I started living by myself with a few friends in Guwahati for the first time in 1982, I hated the food they cooked. So I started preparing food recollecting from my memory.
And after that when I would visit home I would ask my mom for tips and suggestions.
So since ‘82 people have been appreciating what I cook. And I enjoyed the food that I cooked myself, very rarely that I messed up the food that I made.
When I see people eating it and liking it’s like you are participating in their physical growth. The food that you eat, goes to your bones, your blood, and your muscles, so you become the person who is contributing to the hardware growth of that person. It’s a fulfilling experience.
Would you give us an insight into your upcoming projects?
Adil: Um, yeah. These two projects, which are doing rounds of the film festivals now, uh, the Storyteller, which also did its India premiere on November 21 at the Goa Film Festival.
And then the film will have its World Premier in the Jiseok section at the Busan Film festival in South Korea. That film is directed by Anant Mahadevan and the two lead actors are Paresh Rawal and me.
And the film is now going to the International Film Festival of Kerala. And then from there in January to the Palm Spring International Film Festival.
Another film in which I have acted is called “Max, Min and Meowzaki” which will also compete in Busan, South Korea in the Open Cinema strand.
And then there’s a Netflix series, a very interesting story, set in Kolkata, called Tooth Pari. It is directed by Pratim D Gupta and has a lot of amazing actors in that series, which would come out soon, I believe, on Netflix.
I’m also on the verge of signing another series. for Amazon, which I can’t talk about till I sign it. There’s another film, which is called, Footprints on Water, which is, going to open at the South Asian Film Festival in London beginning of next year. It’s a brilliant story of an immigrant father looking for his daughter.
And yes currently we have the series “Mukhbir” running on Zee5. It has become the highest-viewed series on the OTT platform, so I would like people to watch it if they already haven’t.
If you have to say one thing to the audience, what would that be?
Adil: Alright. I just think whatever happens always be in gratitude.
