‘I Was Fated To Play Jinnah’

‘I
have
no
idea
why
I
was
so
many
film-makers’
choice
for
Jinnah.
I
assume
it
is
because
I
was
born
and
bred
in
Mumbai
and
speak
English.’

‘There’s
also
my
name,
people
tend
to
believe
that
a
Muslim
character
can
best
be
played
by
a
Muslim
actor.’

Arif
Zakaria,
who
plays
Muhammad
Ali
Jinnah,
the
leader
of
the
All-India
Muslim
League
from
1913
and
the
first
governor
general
of
Pakistan,
in
Nikkhil
Advani’s
series



Freedom
At
Midnight,
tells



Rediff.com
Senior
Contributor

Roshmila
Bhattacharya&
that
he
has
always
been
apolitical.

“Politics
interests
and
intrigues
me,
but
as
a
bystander.
A
part
of
my
family
was
and
is
in
politics,
so
the
curiosity
is
there,”
he
says.

Arif,
given
your
surprising
physical
resemblance
to
Jinnah
and
your
brilliant
performance
in

Freedom
At
Midnight,
one
wonders
if
Nikkhil
Advani
was
the
first
film-maker
to
approach
you
to
play
him?

No,
Mr
(Shyam)
Benegal
was
the
first
gentleman
to
offer
me
the
role
of
Jinnah.

In
fact,
he
approached
me
twice.

Once,
was
for
a
TV
show
he
was
doing,
maybe

Samvidhaan:
The
Making
of
the
Constitution
of
India.

The
second
time
it
was
for
a
long
sequence
featuring
Jinnah
in

Mujib:
The
Making
of
a
Nation,
the
biopic
of
Bangabandhu,
Sheikh
Mujibur
Rahman.

There
were
offers
for
a
few
stray
Web
shows
and
films
too.

I
have
no
idea
why
I
was
so
many
film-makers’
choice
for
Jinnah.
I
assume
it
is
because
I
was
born
and
bred
in
Mumbai
and
speak
English.

There’s
also
my
name,
people
tend
to
believe
that
a
Muslim
character
can
best
be
played
by
a
Muslim
actor.

None
of
these
offers
materialised
for
whatever
reasons.

I
guess
I
was
fated
to
play
Jinnah
in
such
a
vast,
expansive
way
in

Freedom
At
Midnight.

Let’s
flashback
to
the
audition…

Nikkhil,
fortunately,
did
not
put
me
through
an
elaborate
audition.
I
remember
he
made
me
read
a
scene
in
his
office.

It’s
the
one
in
the
first
or
second
episode
where
Jawaharlal
Nehru
comes
to
Jinnah’s
house
asking
him
to
join
the
government.

Even
though
I
was
on
the
leaner
side
then,
I
had
to
lose
some
weight
for
the
series
because
Jinnah
was
ailing
and
very
frail
then.

But
I
was
pretty
much
there
in
the
physicality
and
fortuitously,
things
fell
in
place.

What
was
the
first
day
of
the
shoot
like?

Well,
we
shot
the
scene
which
comes
in
episode
seven
when
a
young
Gandhi
comes
to
a
Gujarat

sabha
and
is
welcomed
by
a
young
Jinnah.

It’s
a
big
scene
where
Jinnah
introduces
Gandhi,
who
starts
speaking
in
Gujarati,
and
runs
him
down.

There’s
an
awkward
confrontational
moment
between
the
two
when
they
were
young.

It
being
the
first
day
of
shoot,
the
heart
was
pounding.

Things
have
to
be
right,
look
good
and
the
tone
set,
I
know
it
takes
time
even
if
you
have
rehearsed

ad
nauseam
in
an
air
conditioned
office
or
in
the
privacy
of
your
home
several
times.

This
was
on
camera!

Also,
there
was
the
smoking.
I
don’t
smoke
so
it
took
me
a
while
to
get
used
to
tobacco.

There
were
mini
challenges,
but
everything
worked
out
well
in
the
end.

In
the
post
release
interviews,
many
of
the
actors
admit
playing
a
particular
character
gave
them
an
understanding
of
the
person.
What’s
your
understanding
of
Jinnah’s
ideology
and
has
it
changed
after
living
him
on
screen?

Not
really
because
once
a
shoot
is
over,
I
don’t
dwell
too
much
on
the
psyche
of
the
character.

I
perform
a
scene
from
the
way
it
is
written
without
getting
too
deep
into
his
personal
ideology.

I’m
already
looking
to
my
next
role,
there’s
no
great
resonance
that
I
carry
with
me
today.

During
those
seven-eight
months
of
shooting,
I
would
perform
in
front
of
the
camera,
but
there’s
nothing
beyond
that.

The
reason
I’m
asking
you
this
is
that
politics
is
an
integral
part
of
your
family.
Your
uncle
Rafiq
Zakaria
was
a
veteran
Congress
politician
as
was
your
father
Ahmed
Zakaria.
Your
brother
Asif
Zakaria
is
the
Congress
candidate
from
the
Bandra
West
constituency
of
Mumbai
on
a
Congress
ticket.
What
is
your
take
on
contemporary
politics
and
have
you
ever
been
drawn
to
it?

Politics
interests
and
intrigues
me,
but
as
a
bystander.

A
part
of
my
family
was
and
is
in
politics,
so
the
curiosity
is
there.

One
could
have
preferences
in
terms
of
the
choice
of
candidates,
but
that
is
one’s
personal
journey.

It’s
like
asking
what
you
eat
and
don’t
eat,
not
something
that
needs
to
be
in
the
public
domain.

Personally,
I’ve
been
apolitical
all
my
life.

Is
India
as
secular
as
Gandhi
wanted
it
to
be?

I
choose
to
believe
it
is.

There
is
a
lot
of
noise
because
of
social
media.

We
tend
to
get
a
lot
of
information
about
a
lot
of
conflict
which
has
been
there
since
the
past
100
years
or
so.

We
are
only
becoming
aware
of
it
now
in
real
time
because
of
live
news
and
social
media,
constantly
scrolling
and
looking.