Faisal isn’t keen on a Covid 19-based script

If you remember the campy character of Inspector Gopal Singh in Anurag Kashyap’s gangland epic series Gangs of Wasseypur (2012), it means Faisal Malik has stayed with you. The lockdown hasn’t been about leisure for Malik. The actor, who also runs a production house, is currently perfecting projects he was already on before the over 50-day lockdown came into force. “One of my productions was due for release, but the lockdown has delayed deadlines. However, the work goes on,” he says.

Malik coordinates with his team on video conference regularly. He confesses he has not been able to cultivate a new hobby, unlike most others. He reveals, “Once we get caught up with work, we keep giving in to that whirlwind. I keep wishing for a scope to hone my passion, but none of that doesn’t happen.”

The actor-cum-producer’s cooking trials have left him in awe of what most Indian women have been doing for years. Malik can’t fathom how homemakers or working women cook on a daily basis. “The toil and thought that goes into a dish is unimaginable,” he admits.

Ask him if he has prepared anything fancy and he says, “I took lessons online and made some pasta and kofta.” About his recent success with the insistent and heartful rusticity of Prahlad in the OTT series Panchayat, Malik says, “It did not require a lot of hard work when you are working with an actor like Raghubir Yadav. He leaves his dialogues with an intonation that makes my part spontaneous.”

Malik goes on to explain why he doesn’t intend to write a script on the pandemic. He says, “The topic has become a trope. I think like a producer and I want to offer something that is fresh.”

Faisal Malik