Mohammad Zeeshan Ayyub began his film career by playing a negative role in No One Killed Jessica (2011), following it up with several other films like Jannat 2 (2012), Raanjhanaa (2013) and Shahid (2013). Off late, he seems to be part of highly acclaimed projects, whether it is the Real Kashmir Football Club which has got an Emmy nomination, Aneet Padda’s web series debut Hunkaar or the upcoming Eetha, starring Shraddha Kapoor.
In a zoom video interaction with us, he opens up with us about all these achievements, along with telling us about his experience working with Nana Patekar.
How did you got associated with the Real Kashmir Football Club and did you in your wildest dreams ever expect an Emmy nomination?
I think so I was shooting in Liverpool and I got a call from Mukesh Chhabra, the casting director. He said they wanted to meet me for a show being made on the Real Kashmir Football Club. Honestly, I did not know anything about RKFC at that time, it was my ignorance.
Then when I came to Mumbai also I was a bit reluctant because I thought a show on Kashmir would end up being the same, they will be either selling the geographical beauty, the topography, or else they'll be showing all the violence and it won't be anything else. And then I went there, I got to know about the club properly and I had a great discussion with the producers and creators. Fortunately we all were on the same plane since we didn't want to show the cliches of Kashmir. Our show was about hope, the future and the youth.
How did you get to know about the Emmy nomination?
So that was a strange experience because I was on a flight to Mumbai when the announcement was made. As soon as I landed I started getting messages from last few hours. The first message I read was from a journalist saying congratulations and asking for my reaction, and i was thinking, 'About what!' and it was like, oh, congratulations. First of all, we would like to have your quote about this. And I was like, about what? I did not understand. Then I started checking messages from various cast members and understood that we had been nominated. More than any award, it was about the recognition, for something which had believed in so strongly. Also, because of the nomination a lot of people started watching the show, who were not aware of it before.
What were your learnings from Our Share Of Sand, which made it to BFI London and TIFF.
Tess Joseph, the casting director, got in touch with me for his one, she normally does all the castings for the international shows. Tess had always wanted to to cast me, and she got in touch with me, saying that she has something that was meant for me. The film is more about he relationship between the father and the daughter, with the sand mining mafia backdrop. One ofcourse knew about the mafia, but got to know more about how they operate and how the labour is used.
Hunkaar is your latest project.
Hunkaar handles a very prevalent issue in our country, but also shows the perspective from the victim’s part, when she is being blamed. It sometime becomes difficult when you are in the midst of it all, because it just pulls you down.
With Nana Patekar’s passing, wanted to know your thoughts on working with him in Sankalp.
That’s a difficult question, because i shared a very good relation with him. Nana sir would call me his son, we had become that close. I woke up that morning with a call informing me about it, and i wasn’t in the frame of mind to respond. There are so many things that i didn’t know where to start.
He was the kind of teacher who won’t traditionally teach you. He'll just come in at the right time and give you some wisdom. Those pointers would not only be applicable for that scene, but or acting as a whole.
It was the first or second day of shooting Sankalp, and we were shooting an emotional scene, where I'm pleading in front of him at his feet, while he's on a hospital bed. We must have shot that scene 16 times, so I was empty from inside. I was putting in lot of effort in getting the emotion out and being in the right state of mind, but i don’t think i hit the mark. That’s when Nana sir told me, “Listen, you are in the zone, Trust your training. Just be there and say the lines and it will be fine.” And I did that and it worked beautifully.
He was an impulsive and brilliant actor. He used to maintain a register for every character that he played and he used to write all the dialogues with his hands because he was an artist. So it was almost calligraphy what he was doing. He had markings where the tone will go up, where it will come down. It was all pre decided, well rehearsed because one day he gave that copy to me and told me to check if he remembered all the lines or not.
Is there anything you can share with us regarding being part of Eetha?
While I’m playing a very integral part, i cannot talk about the character. It is like the film which ere made in the 90s where we are talking about the relationship and not just something technical, it is something from inside.
