Debutant director Akshat Ajay Sharma, who has been winning hearts with his recent project Haddi, gets candid with The Pioneer, about working with Anurag Kashyap, and Nawazuddin donning the character in the film.
Tejal Sinha
The Nawazuddin Siddiqui-starrer Haddi on ZEE5 has hooked the audience, not only with the concept, and the way he donned himself into a transgender, but also the way the entire film was executed and presented. In the end, the film received the much-deserved appraisal that it was meant to get. The hard-hitting noir revenge drama is directed by debutant Akshat Ajay Sharma, who has been assisting Anurag Kashyap for many years now.
While Akshat has always adored Anurag and his work, but he feels that he is a different filmmaker and they have a huge contrast in their art. However, what he adapted from Anurag was, “While working with him for 3-4 years is the trait of how to be a budget filmmaker, and working in pandemonium so you can say that I learnt
everything that a producer usually loves. Sadly, the only Anurag you will see in this is him as an actor, my villain, Pramod Ahlawat. Anurag calls me “A Dark Person” for my ideas. Imagine that! Him calling someone Dark is something. As much as I love his creative advices – he didn’t give me any for the film. But he stood by the film – like a rock making sure it sees the light. Anurag wasn’t a part of the writing/making of this. Haddi is my baby and my team’s – I’m proud to say that.”
Nawaz plays a transgender and from what we can tell, he has done a phenomenal job. The film is against the backdrop of modern ruins in NCR, Gurgaon, and Noida, and gives a peek into the life of Haddi, a rookie transgender, portrayed by Nawazuddin Siddiqui, who comes from Allahabad to Delhi to join a gang of transgenders and climbs up to the top of the criminal chain to avenge his family who was wronged by a mighty powerful gangster turned politician played by Anurag Kashyap.
So, did you wonder too if it was a task convincing him, or if he was the first choice for the role? Well, the director says, “Without Nawaz, there was no Haddi. He is HADDI. It wasn’t a task to convince him. He inspires greatness and he has an eye for the best scripts. But it was a task to get him to sit down with me for 3 hours. He reads all his scripts, and I prefer doing script reading. Considering his busy schedule, it was a task getting his availability for that meeting. But once he read/listened to the script, he said yes immediately. It was a long journey from that day to this hour. He was my ONLY choice for this role. Why do you think I waited an entire year for him and did not pitch anyone even before he knew about the existence of this script? Regarding his involvement in prep, it was a huge collaboration. The preparation for this role wasn’t much about external appearance. We had the best people for that. With Priyanka and Subhash, the ‘Appearance’ was never a worry. What was a task for us was to dissect the psychology of this character. The sensitivity, the strength, the love of the sisterhood, and the vengeance of someone who had lost everything. It included hours of discussion till the last day of the shoot. I love how he as an actor absorbs everything that a filmmaker desires of him and then he gives that and more.”
