Actor Manu Rishi Chadha, who played General Pervez Musharraf (later became President of Pakistan) in Operation Safed Sagar, says he is getting both hate and love for playing the role of the mastermind behind the aggression that led to the Kargil War in 1999.
The actor tells HT City, “Social media and my message box is filled with DMs. Someone wrote that he wants to slap me for the act and hug me for my work. I was like… please don’t slap as if others too feel the same it will be too much (laughs). I feel that the hate is also love which means the work was appreciated.”
Chadha says he was aware from the start that no one will love him for this role. “There is one common message I am getting: Manu bhai jitni nafrat thi (Musharraf) woh double ho gaya par aapse pyar ho gaya! I want ki woh nafrat bahi rahe.”
Getting in the skin of the Musharaff was not easy and for that he stayed away from the available references. “I just saw 1-2 videos but then I decided not to, otherwise it will become caricaturish. Initially, my first question was how do I look like him? Also, hero ki duniye mein villain banna and that too a real person was a challenge. But, my director Oni Sen and creators Abhijeet Parmar and Kushal Srivastava were confident.”
Expressing his process, he says, “I was wondering how to prepare and I got a message from Nawaz(uddin Siddiqui, actor) that let’s meet for lunch. I asked him how he played (Saadat Hasan) Manto in the film and he was like there was no reference of him except his photo and work so created and worked on his human side – right or wrong! So, I decided that I will just follow my director and creators’ vision.”
The team worked on the physical looks part but not on the persona. “Kahin mimick na ho jaye – yeh dar bhi rakha aur jimmedari bhi rakhi! As Indian, I can hate him but as actor I can’t! My process was that after wearing uniform I will become true to it and Pakistan. I started believing that I am Musharraf who is very loyal and honest to his country, his extreme hatred (for India) and his (Kashmir) mission. My nervous energy helped me focus.”
During filming he stayed away from talking and meeting people to be in character. “I used to switch off when I used to see Indian wadiyan and meet amazing people. Naseer(uddin Shah) bhai always used to talk about switching on and off but for the first time in my career I actually learnt this,” he says and adds, “People know me for improvising on my characters but I did not do it at all in this project.”
Deep Saxena writes on Bollywood, OTT, television, food and culture for the daily Entertainment & Lifestyle supplement, HT City.
