Layers, not language, draw Adil to his roles
Adil Hussain is among those few actors who’ve worked in films in several languages: Hindi, English, Assamese, Tamil, Bengali etc. He says that there’s no plan to seek out this diversity; it’s the script that guides his choice.
“I don’t think it’s strategic or a conscious decision to work in films of different languages. I’ve worked in many, and they were all good scripts. I’ve always wanted to act in roles that have something deeper to say. I want to be challenged by it. And this happens in different parts of the world,” says the actor, whose Norwegian film, What Will People Say, has been declared Norway’s official entry to the Oscars, and he has also won the Best Actor award for it at the Norwegian National Awards.
At the other end of the scale, Adil has shot for a Khasi film, titled Lorni – The Flaneur, described in some reports as a “micro-budget” film. He’s also starring in a film by the Bengali director Goutam Ghose. The actor says, “The awareness is about working in layered roles; that’s a conscious decision. But I don’t want to necessarily do films in different languages — it should be interesting.”
His next release, Love Sonia, deals with the topic of human trafficking. On why he chose it, Adil says, “In every part of the world, there’s trafficking for flesh, even in progressive countries like Holland and the Netherlands… it’s overlooked. Lots of women from Eastern Europe are brought in illegally and forcefully confined. We [in India] haven’t understood the gravity of the situation. About a hundred thousand people are trafficked each year.”
The film, he adds, has “an important story that needed to be told”. Also, his co-stars — such as Rajkummar Rao, Richa Chadha, and Freida Pinto — make for “a great ensemble cast”, he feels.