He has played characters of all hues but Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub says he wonders why directors don't imagine him in a romantic role.
In “Haddi”, director Akshat Ajay Sharma’s debut film, Ayyub is playing the love interest to Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s transgender character.
Ayyub, who has established himself as a versatile performer, said he was excited when Sharma offered him a role with a romantic arc.
“I was excited about that (in ‘Haddi’). I was like ‘Yaar, koi to mujhe romantic role me dekh raha hai' (I was like at least someone imagined me in a romantic role). I thought it would be fun,” Ayyub, who most recently wowed critics with his turn as a principled editor in Hansal Mehta’s “Scoop”, told PTI .
Asked whether he ever wondered why such roles don’t come his way, the actor said, “Even I want to know. Why not? I would love to play a romantic character.”
And if need be, he is ready to dance around the trees as well, he joked.
“Dancing around the trees is not the only way to do a romantic story but if it is interesting, ‘vo bhi kar lenge’ (will do that also)”
Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap, who plays the antagonist in the film and sat down for the interview with Ayyub and Sharma, quipped that the actor would dance around the trees only if the story is set in Switzerland.
Sharma, on his part, said he had fun directing a romantic scene between Siddiqui and Ayyub in the movie.
Ayyub, 39, said he was happy with the response to the film’s romantic number “Beparda” after he shared it on social media. He now hopes the film garners a similar reaction.
"Haddi", currently streaming on ZEE5, is a revenge drama that explores the "intoxicating world of vengeance, violence and power".
Sushmita Sen-starrer “Taali”, “Made In Heaven” and now “Haddi”, transgender stories are finding representation in the mainstream. Ayyub said inclusivity is always a gradual process.
“I have always felt that if you talk about inclusivity by introducing a special character, then it is half baked. But when you take a normal story… Like if I am showing three people in the society and one of them is transgender and the other two are boy or girl and they are just normal friends, I feel it is more inclusive than showing how others behave towards that one person. And it has begun,” he said.
The actor said the length of his role in the movie may not be long, but his character adds a lot to the story.
“It was an important character and an important film that he (Sharma) was making and I was getting an opportunity to work with them so that was also a factor when I was signing the film. I thought I would enjoy myself,” Ayyub added.
