Mira Nair is like an elder sister: Adil Hussain

Adil Hussain, who has shot for ‘Life of Pi’, ‘English Vinglish’ and ‘Bombay’s Most Wanted’, tells RT that though he shot with Kareena Kapoor for ‘Agent Vinod’ at the Mumbai airport on Thursday, it can’t be the reason for the delay in the movie’s release
There is a never-ending speculation regarding the cause of delay in the release of “Agent Vinod” and subsequent date of Kareena and Saif’s wedding.The most recent piece of information available in the media is that post-production house has not even received the complete footage of the film yet, leading to further talks about the delay of the movie’s release by another six months! However, Adil Hussain, who plays a villain in the film, rubbishes such claims. Having shot with Kareena on December 22 at Mumbai’s airport, the actor says that the film might well see a release in the last week of February or early March.
Says Adil, who has earlier played Tabu’s husband in Ang Lee’s “Life of Pi”, “In “AV”, I play an international handler. I reached Mumbai on December 21. On December 22, Kareena and I shot at the airport from 7.30 am till 1 pm. Then, I took a flight back to Delhi. I also met Saif briefly at the airport.” Tell Adil about the reports about the film getting delayed and not being able to meet the February-release deadline because the complete footage isn’t ready and he says, “The editing of the film is over. Most of the dubbing, including mine, is over too. A few parts are left but that won’t take long. The portions that are now being shot are very small. They would just take one or two seconds on-screen and the unit knows exactly where to place this footage. Even though the shooting will end on December 29, that can’t be any reason for the delay of the movie’s release. I had a talk with the unit and the film might release anywhere between February 27 and March 13. However, film is such a medium that one can never have the final word till it is released.”
Ask him about his experience of shooting with Kareena and Saif and he says, “She is a wonderful actor. While shooting, she told me about doing “Heroine” too though we didn’t have much time to talk about the project at length. Kareena and Saif are a wonderful couple. They are crisply professional and yet exude a sense of homeliness. They do all that very effortlessly. That’s a beautiful combination to have for any actor or a producer. This wasn’t the first time that I shot for “AV” after Saif’s father passed away. I had shot with Saif just after his father’s death when he resumed work on the movie in Mumbai. He was very calm and professional even then. But, I suppose, his father had been ailing for a while and he kind of saw the end coming. This happens when a person is ill for a long time. My father was 93 when he passed away. Since he had been bed-ridden for a while, I knew that I would have to let go. I was shooting on the border of Pakistan for a television soap called “Jasoos Vijay” when the news of his demise reached me on the phone. My brother told me that my father is no more and just after that news, the next voice I heard was “Shot ready hain” and I had said: “Okay”. Well, such is life.”
As for Adil’s life now, things are really looking rosy. “I’ve just shot for Mira Nair’s “The Reluctant Fundamentalist”. Mira comes across as my elder sister. Twenty years ago, I had auditioned for her “Buddha”. The role had gone to someone else though the film never got made and Bertolucci went ahead and made his “Little Buddha”. Twenty years later, I worked with Mira and this time around, she gave me the part of a cell leader. It’s a small role but I had a nice time shooting with Riz Ahmed. Another very fascinating experience for me was shooting Aditya Bhattacharya’s “Bombay’s Most Wanted”. Aditya made “Raakh” with Aamir Khan and then went on to make another as-yet-unreleased movie called “Dubai Returned” with Irrfan. Aditya is a great actor’s director. In this movie, I play a cop who “invented” encounter killing. The cinematographer in this movie, Lisa Rinzler, has shot Mumbai in a completely new fashion. She is the one who shot the film titled “Buena Vista Social Club” and “Pollock”. The film is the most realistic take on Mumbai’s underworld where we have dealt with the encounter killing part on the surface. While Sarita Choudhury plays a journalist, Tannishtha Chatterjee essays the role of a bar dancer,” he says.
Then, of course, there is “English Vinglish” with Sridevi. “I play a stupid Indian husband in the film. Without wanting to say a cliché, I’ll still add that it was an honour to work with Sridevi and play her husband,” he adds.
With so much varied work happening for Adil, would he say that playing Vidya’s husband in “Ishqiya” was the turning point in his career in the movies? With his tongue firmly in his cheek, he says, “I wouldn’t know whether playing her husband or attempting to kill her on-screen was the turning point in my career. A better way to put it would be to say that it was the birth of my son, Kabir, that was the turning point. He made me realize that as a father I had to earn enough to look after him and not be this jhola-carrying theatre activist all the time!”