Actor Adil Hussain is unapologetic in his approach. His roles should resonate with his inner core. They should be intriguing. He tells Chahak Mittal that his character in the psycho-horror drama, Nirvana Inn, is one such as it blurs the line between realism and mystery
So what made you say yes to the role?” I ask actor Adil Hussain. When he questions, “Which role?” from the other end of the phone, I confirm, “Nirvana Inn.” I soon realise how the actor has been riding high on the success and proud win of his web series, Delhi Crime, at the Emmys that he almost forgets his other projects. He laughs and clarifies, “Actually, these days, I keep forgetting what’s the call for as it could also be for Delhi Crime.”
Well, the series has been a very “special” project for Hussain and he credits it all to its writer-director, Richie Mehta. He adds, “Richie is a dedicated art lover. I don’t know anybody else who could have done such a great artistic job. He has done justice to the issue by portraying it the right way. It’s amazing how the series doesn’t show any abuse, violence or brutality and yet manages to shed light so beautifully on such a sensitive issue. It’s difficult to do what he did. It took him four years to complete his research. I haven’t seen any series in the country so far which has this level of beauty and reality at the same time, and also an artistic rigour to create something like this.”
After a moment of pause, he returns to answer my previous question about his forthcoming psycho-horror drama, Nirvana Inn, which for him is another “astounding project.” He says, “It is an intelligent film and my character is crafted quite well. I have come across very few Indian films, which have treated the genre with so much suspense and aesthetics of arts. Usually, a violent and brutal side is lent to such films but I found this quite intriguing and real. It is not just horror, it’s more of a character study in a slow narrative that blurs the line between realism and mystery.”
Hussain believes that when it comes to horror, the genre has not been very well-experimented or explored in mainstream Indian cinema. Is there a specific reason why it lags behind? He says, “I’d say that it’s very difficult to write good scripts. In the Indian filmmaking culture, we haven’t been giving much space, time, energy, resources and money into writing. Very rarely, I come across a brilliantly-written script which is at par with the level of Hollywood or the films from the Eastern part of the country. I am not even comparing those scripts to the likes of Satyajit Ray. However, I was surprised how a horror genre script like Nirvana Inn would find me, which is really that good that it’s acceptable to my kind of aesthetics.”
The film, shot in Manali, Majuli (Assam) and Chennai, revolves around the life and personal encounters of Jogiraj (played by Hussain), a boatman who becomes the caretaker of a mysterious Himalayan resort after a suicide attempt. While the synopsis might be perplexing, the film’s trailer is as intriguing and Hussain’s description of the mystery behind it makes one even more curious to watch it. He tells us that “guilt” is the underlying theme of the film. “That feeling is not easy to play around with but the intensity of guilt in a person has been dealt with in a wonderful way in this film. The plot mixes nightmares with the reality and so, the audience really doesn’t know what is real and what is not. I have never played such an intense role,” he adds.
Well, talking about roles, Indian cinema has certainly seen characters evolving. There’s a surge of grey roles now as actors don’t like to keep them in a box. Now, roles are more layered, etched and life-like. For Hussain, a role should speak of something he resonates with. “I look at a role fundamentally, what does it offer as a character — is it black-and-white, layered or more grey? Does it create empathy in me even while I’m portraying a dark-shaded character? Do I feel empathy for a dark person? How well is it written craftwise? Is the director good enough? Jogi, I’d say, is very unpredictable and grey,” he says.
The actor earlier revealed that he himself was “terrified” at the end of it. But why? He points towards the difference between a script and the cinematography. “When you shoot for a film, you really don’t know what’s going to happen. A script is constantly evolving. Written words might create some visuals in your mind but they will be different than what is actually created. When you eventually see the film, you realise how the cinematography, the background, the set and even the characters turn out to be — totally different than you’d imagined. You feel, ‘Oh, this is what was going on!’ And hence, I was blown after watching it.” When I try to get deeper into the details, he laughs and keeps me from bringing the suspense out.
The film will have its digital world premiere on a new, pay-per-view OTT platform, Cinemapreneur, for 99 hours from December 11. Hussain talks about how it is different from the other OTTs and has the potential of giving a cinema-like experience post-COVID. “The lockdown shut cinema halls and the subscriptions for OTT platforms like Netflix, Amazon, Hotstar, etc, surged. However, there, one needs to subscribe and pay a monthly charge. Here, it’s quite similar to going to a cinema hall and buying a ticket for the film you want to watch.”
Nirvana Inn, which also stars Sandhya Mridul and Rajshree Deshpande in leading roles, became the only Indian film selected for the Asian Market Project (AMP) in Busan and was awarded the Asian Cinema Fund. It also had its world premiere at the 24th Busan International Film Festival 2019. Getting global recognition is huge for any actor. And Hussain believes that one should take it “with humility and work harder to keep doing better,” he says as he signs off, preparing for his next morning flight to the UK to shoot for his another brilliant project, Footprints On Water.
