One of Adil Hussain’s greatest virtue is his versatility. Whether it as Sridevi’s indifferent husband in English Vinglish or a mystic in Parched, he can make anything seem believable. It’s a pity that Bollywood doesn’t have much to offer an actor of his calibre. “They have underutilised most actors including Sridevi, who I believe was a volcano of talent. She had the talent to win multiple Oscars.”
For actors like him what is important is to be honest to one’s craft. There is no bigger joy, he says, than knowing that he has been able to “become” a character completely. But in Bollywood, that’s not what works. “Most of what we produce is mediocre unfortunately. Look at Life of Pi, it had no big star and yet look at its numbers.” He says there is no dearth of talent and infrastructure but a lack of intelligent producers and distributors.
But this year has been particularly fruitful for Adil. His Norwegian film What will people say? has been sent as Norway’s official entry to the Oscars. He was also conferred with their highest national award for his performance. “It was completely unexpected, but I’m such a fan of their cinema, particularly for its realism,” he says.
He also spoke to us about his niece being excluded from the National Register of Citizens (NRC) list, and said he was extremely amused by it. “The Assam government conferred me with the award for the Best Assamese in 2015 so why should my niece be considered a ‘doubtful voter’?” he says.
This aside, Adil has a lot to look forward. There’s Love Sonia this year, but he’s also signed a big film with a well-known director which he couldn’t speak about but promises to be very exciting. There’s also a Netflix series and famous Bengali director Goutam Ghose’s Hindi directorial venture.
Love Sonia is currently playing in theatres.
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