NEW DELHI: Actor Adil Hussain has a wide range of films to his name, including internationally acclaimed works like ‘The Reluctant Fundamentalist’ and ‘Life of Pi’.
The actor, who is renowned for his refined acting abilities and diversified, unconventional performances, talked about his Nathalia Syam-directed movie, ‘Footprints on Water’ and India hosting the G20 summit for the first time.
He told ANI, “I wish it is G143 because G20 and I would prefer 100 or 210 countries of the world have come together then we can truly say Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam because when we look at the world as one then only we can find the solutions to all the problems that we are facing including population problem, explosion, climate change, wars, transmigration of people, so I think it’s a great sign that we Indians are hosting G20 summit and I think India can probably do way more by including more countries.”
The film was screened at the G20 Film Festival which was held at India International Centre (IIC) in New Delhi.
While talking about his association with the film and his role, he said, “I am pretty good with debut directors because, especially because of their enthusiasm for their first project, they put in a lot of hard work, especially in a subject like this that is mostly unspoken about mostly. Generally, audiences get to see rosy pictures of European countries and rarely get to see the plight and dark realities of immigrants living there.”
He praised the director and said, “ What I like about Nathalia was the way she was genuine, her knowledge about the subject and she was open to improvisation and suggestions. She wanted to tell a story and not just become popular.”
“I acted since childhood but didn’t get paid for 30 years, still I continue to act because I love acting I expect art makers to be like that. If you want to become famous then you should do something else. For art to be responsible for what you say and show to society you must not say something that divides the society but unites the society as art is meant to bring people together,” he added.
The film is all about illegal immigrants living in UK and Adil, plays the role of Raghu, a small-scale business owner in India, who fled to the UK with his wife and daughter after being mired in a financial scam. However, the life that waited for them in the UK was far from perfect.
When asked if somewhere he relates to his character, he replied, “In India we all are immigrants. I travelled from Assam to Delhi and found a culture that was completely different from my hometown. Similarly, I went to Kerala to learn Kathakali and found an altogether different culture, language and food.
“So, I relate to Raghu and his emotions in the film. I have seen NRC (National Register of Citizens) being imposed in Assam and how people there have to show documents to prove their citizenship. I saw their pain because many of them didn’t have the documents as they were washed away in floods. Indeed, I relate to Raghu.”
The actor who has been part of mainstream cinema, spoke about Bollywood and said, “I am happy people are returning to cinema halls but it is important that we focus on content and make films that are inspired by the great saints of India and their message of compassion, love, empathy, respect, integrity and other qualities. If we aspire to become vishwa guru, cinema can play an important role,” he said.
The actor opened up about his next projects and said, “There are many projects which I cannot discuss much. I am nostalgic about the film in which I will be working with someone who was 14 years old when I worked with her mother long back. Another movie was ‘The Second Chance’ which is about mime art which is not getting due respect globally and in India.” (ANI)