Adil Hussain hails from Assam, lives in Delhi, works in Mumbai and wherever his international projects take him. As an actor who’s been exposed to different cultures, he connects on a deeper level with the story of The Illegal, a film directed by Danish Renzu about migrants in America. The film reunites Adil with his Life of Pi co-star Suraj Sharma, who plays the lead character in the film that is streaming now on Amazon Prime Video. Excerpts from a chat:
How was working with Suraj Sharma again after Life of Pi?
It was fun. That was one of the reasons why I was delighted to be part of this film. Because Suraj and I are very close in real life, and we meet quite often whenever he is here in Delhi, and his family is also very close to us. So, yeah, that was a lot of fun, we laughed a lot. We keep meeting in New York whenever I go there because he’s based there. We talk a lot about acting and our lives. Being the wonderful person that he is, it’s always a pleasure to work with people who you’re comfortable with.
The Illegal is fuelled by Danish Renzu’s own experiences as a migrant in America. How did you draw from your experience as an actor from Assam who is now working in world cinema?
Traveling across the globe and staying substantial time in different parts of the world has helped me grow as a person. And those things reflect in the work that I do. I first went to study in England in the early ’90s. And then I stayed and lived in Europe for almost four years in Netherlands. I have seen people Indians, Bangladeshis, Pakistanis, they live in a ghetto and they don’t want to meet the white people there. They want to stay within their close community.
So when I was abroad, especially when I was in the Netherlands, I made it a point that I will stay away from Asians, so that I could understand another country, another mindset, another culture from inside out, and that would enrich me. Unless you are absorbing the subtle aspects and humor and politics and the emotional upbringing of a specific society, you wouldn’t grow much. Your horizon has to be widened as an artist.
Does it help with your appeal as a global actor who goes from a project like Star Trek Discovery to The Illegal and Delhi Crime?
Yes, it does. Directors, writers or casting directors have trained eyes to see the palpability and the moldability of a person. They somehow identify the universality of a person as well. You cannot hide yourself from the camera. That is one of the most important aspect of acting. In spite of doing a so-called villainous role, you must approach it from a very empathetic point of view. You have to be very empathetic to Hitler as well in order to play that role. So that probably comes from one’s exposure to different points of view, which the person has accepted and not necessarily agreed with, but empathizes with.
You are working in multiple languages and countries simultaneously. How do you manage?
I’ve finished three films since August. One is Bell Bottom with Akshay Kumar, Huma Qureshi, Vani Tripathi and other great young actors. The other one is an Assamese commercial film. And the third one I finished a week and a half ago, last leg was shot in Kerala, called Footprints on Water by a debutante director called Nathalia Syam. It’s a very intense drama about an immigrant looking for his daughter. It’s an extremely heartbreaking and heart wrenching story.
It’s part of the job description, that if a film is set in Latvia, I have to go to Latvia (laughs). It’s a lot of fun to work in different roles. That’s why I guess one has chosen to be an actor, that you cast yourself in a film which is of no budget, or which is of a huge budget like Star Trek or Life of Pi. So I’m one of the lucky ones, I guess, on the planet. At this time of the year, I’ve got work, which is great and I am really grateful.
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