Actor Ali Fazal is proud to be a part of a woman-centric film and says that he has never focussed on the length of his roles. He chats with Divya Kaushik about working with James Wan in Fast and Furious 7 and his reasons for not doing Homeland
You will be obviously termed extremely fortunate if in the early years of your career in Bollywood you get an opportunity to work with Hollywood biggies like James Wan and Kurt Russel. Ali Fazal is one of those rare fortunate ones. The 27-year-old actor, who is busy promoting Bobby Jasoos presently, has completed the shoot for the seventh installment of the popular Hollywood franchise, Fast and Furious. He terms the experience as “fantastic”. He has played a cameo in the film but says it was challenging to mould himself as per the requirement of the character. “I am not playing an Indian guy in the film so the dialect is different, body language is different. Also, I had to shoot with this entire gang so I had to observe a lot to appear like one of them on screen. It was a great learning experience. We completed the film two months back in Abu Dhabi. We should have completed it last year only but Paul Walker, who played an essential role in the film, passed away, lots of rewrites were done. Director James Wan, who directed path-breaking films like Insidious and The Conjuring, is a genius. It was an unparallel experience to be working with him,” says Ali, stressing that as an actor he depends a lot on the director to come up with his best. “I have to put in my trust in the director. I just read the script once or twice and then it is the director who has to guide me throughout,” he adds. The actor has had the experience of working in some other projects in the West — he had a small role in Ashok Amritraj-produced The Other End of The line and was also part of American TV mini series Bollywood Hero.
The actor began his Bollywood journey with a small role in the blockbuster 3 Idiots and has been always choosy about his projects. It was being said that he was not very willing to sign Bobby Jasoos, considering that the film is centered around the female protagonist of the film. Ali rubbishes the report and says that Vidya Balan was one of the reasons he signed the film. “I have been choosy about my projects after I made some mistakes initially in my career. A lot of thought goes into choosing a right film. I take time to read the script, understand my character, dialogues and how the scenes will be played out in the film. This was the reason that I didn’t instantly said yes to Diya Mirza’s offer. But when I started to understand the story of Bobby Jasoos I realised that his part is integral to the film. The film is the story of this bindaas girl who is trying to establish her own identity and this guy helps her do that. He is a TV anchor who dreams of his career in a big city. He is trying to run from his marriage, which his parents are adamant on, and Vidya helps him get rid of all the alliances. She always finds something about the girl’s family and saves him from marriage. later, there is romance between them and he brings out a girl in this gundi (Vidya’s character),” he adds.
Ali began his career with stage performances and ad commercials and it was during one of his performances that he was spotted by director Rajkumar Hirani. He was then picked up by Shah Rukh Khan’s production-house Red Chillies Entertainment for the lead role in the film Always Kabhi Kabhi with Giselli Moterio. The film failed to create a buzz at the box office, but Ali says that it was a turning point of his career. “The film made me meet Shah Rukh and since then he has been motivating and encouraging me to come up with my best. Also, I got to be a part of Fukrey, it was a very challenging role. I was supposed to be tight-lipped when everybody around me was cracking jokes. Things have changed after Fukrey. I got to be a part of Bobby Jasoos and I was also offered Homeland, which I could not do because of my Hollywood commitments. But Bollywood is my dream and I have just started out here, so shows like Homeland can wait. I can’t miss on the opportunities I am getting in Bollywood at present,” he says.
Ali is also gearing up for the release of Rohan Sippy’s film Sonali Cable in October and next year, he will be seen in Mahesh Bhatt’s Khamoshiyaan.