Not Just Bollywood| Ali Fazal on Mirzapur 3 and his international projects

Actor Ali Fazal once mentioned that working in international movies helped him in his thinking process that he shouldn’t get bogged down by the stardom dream. Firstpost caught up with the actor as he gears up for Mirzapur Season 3.

If we go back a few years down the line, actor Ali Fazal’s mind-set was completely different from what it is now. That was the time when Fazal actually wanted to be a star and go the typical box office way trying to make it big in Bollywood. Then suddenly he got a break in Hollywood, which completely changed his thought process. He once mentioned, “Working in Hollywood is very different and the economy and the democracy is very different. Then came a thought that I am chasing the wrong tunnel.”

“My world will prosper and yours can too and it’s fine”, that’s what Ali Fazal learnt from Hollywood. “Phehela ka soch kiya thaa???kiska upaar charka, mujhe baana hai number one. (Previously we used to think, I need to climb on somebody to become number one). I think that is not required. All of us can prosper and all of us can be global stars. I think initially we were fed the wrong notion when I was starting my career in the entertainment industry. I was very naïve too. Working in international movies helped me in my thinking process that I shouldn’t get bogged down by the stardom dream.”

He stresses on the union system of Hollywood which is very strong. It is structured in such a way that it helps everybody. Ali Fazal has made a huge splash across his performances and one of the most iconic ones has to be that of Guddu Bhaiya' from Mirzapur. As the entire cast and crew begin prep to start shooting for the highly anticipated third season, Ali Fazal is busy with his own prep to bring back his character on screen. And what is different this time? The level of action and the techniques to prepare for that. The actor has taken to the method of learning the basics of wrestling to apply the methods of combat and hand-to-hand combat to apply the skills for his character. The show has always had action in its premise, but the script this time around demands much more of it. Wanting to do his own stunts and action for his role, Ali wants to use this time and this prep to apply to those sequences in the show.

Talking about the preparation of the role Ali says, “The shoot has just started and we are in a good pace for Mirzapur 3. I hurt my neck a little. But the prep has been a little methodical and little conditional because I have a certain body type, but now it has got a little gym heavy. The script is brilliant as always and this time I am a little excited about it. The draft keeps changing every season and it has to otherwise it will be boring. We have a very new team of writers. There are a lot of exciting story narratives that are coming together in Season3.”

Preparation for the role involved changing from his neutral self and becoming a little broader and defined. But his main focus has always been on the holistic view of the character and the story. It’s not just the body and the muscle training. He says, “There are a lot of things that go behind the making of character. It’s the costume, the writing, the workshops that we put in which is the most important part of the preparation.”

Though he ends up going to the gym reluctantly most of the days, Fazal feels that Mirzapur as a place is beautiful. They have created a very fictional kind of a world in and around the area. “In fact, I think most of our stuff is moving to Lucknow and shoots are happening in Banaras. It’s kind of widespread. But Mirzapur is still a city where everything is a power game, the story of underdog, love and hate. I feel it’s a tiny little nation of its own. The language has mellowed down quite a bit in many ways.”

When asked if the abuses, the cutting and the beheading mellowed down or not in Mirzapur Season 3. “I don’t think I am the right judge for that. I know that my character didn’t have the need for it of any abuses in season 2 and so you will actually not see me in Season 3 uttering any cuss word. It is also people in different belts in India communicate,” adds Fazal.

Fazal further adds, “I remember when I came to Dehradun for my studies, some people called me ‘tu kya kaar raha hai’ and I wacked them because they called me tu. Coming from Lucknow, I felt to use the word ‘tu’ is very rude. So, these are things that change within demographics within our own country.”

Ali is busy with his international projects.  In January he finished a film with Gerard Butler. It is a film called Kandahar as the name suggests it is based in Afghanistan. “We shot it in Saudi Arabia. It’s a high-octane film made by the same guys who made John Wick. I have never done action like that before.”

Mentioning about how OTT changed his life, he says, “Mirzapur has been my only reference for OTT work. I chose to do it when people told me not to do it. But I took a chance. OTT in my life has been a big changer. I think it is an exciting time for all artiste all writers, directors and producers and also a challenging one because we have to manoeuvre through the system of censorship.”

Ali likes the unpredictability of characters. I like to collaborate with the makeup team and the costumes department. I sit with them for hours wanting to know how the stitching is done. But is Bollywood losing its swag to South films? Fazal concludes, “I think the audiences are suddenly enjoying the 90s masala that is coming from the southern part of the country. Here in the Hindi film industry the OTT changed the game and started thinking differently.”

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