It’s been more than a decade since Ali Fazal has been acting in Hindi films. The critically acclaimed actor made his debut with Rajkumar Hirani‘s 3 Idiots where he played the character of Joy. He then went on to act in films like Fukrey, Always Kabhi Kabhi, Fukrey Returns, Bobby Jasoos among others. The actor even appeared in the Hollywood film, Fast And Furious 7 and is all set to feature opposite the Wonder Woman, Gal Gadot in the film titled Death On The Nile.
On the personal front, Ali was gearing up for his marriage with actor Richa Chadha this year. But due to the coronavirus induced lockdown, the wedding has been postponed. And now in a recent tête-à-tête with Hindustan Times, Ali has spoken up about his opinion on the lockdown, the current hot topic of outsiders and insiders in the Hindi film industry and many more.
Talking about the lockdown first, the actor said— “I won’t stop living because something hasn’t worked out. I am happy. And there is life beyond work.”
On being asked about the ongoing debate of outsider and insiders, Ali expressed—
We are all artists and we can’t hate. Sure, we have major issues but that is the case with every industry. Instead of only talking about the problem, let’s think about the solutions. What we need is a change in the system and structure especially how technicians are treated at a contractual level. We should talk about equality of pay, inclusion riders and royalty and make it all legally binding.
Looking at the current scenario, most of the filmmakers are opting for an OTT release. To which the actor said that he doesn’t plan his releases, instead he wishes to focus on his career. He said—
I made a mark in the web space and got recognition as the Indian actor working in Hollywood. But till now, I don’t have a huge hit to my name in the theatres. I want to learn and get better at my craft. My first film was with director Saeed Akhtar Mirza and it was never released. Next was a Shah Rukh Khan production, which didn’t work and I understood what marketing is.
The actor concluded by saying that he feels that without the box office collection, there is no movie which is a flop on OTT. He said—
Without box office collections, no one is a flop on OTT. One could say it’s the slow death of celluloid or the communist era in cinemas. It will be a learning curve. Of course, once the theatres open up, things will go back to normal as nothing beats the magic of theatre.