As a child, Mohammad Ali Baig used to be terrified of watching his father (theatre veteran Qadir Ali Baig) on stage. “One week he’d play a Mughal emperor, and the next week he’d be a saint. The week after, he’d be a wife-beating drunkard. In a month, he’d play a war veteran on crutches,” recalls Mohammad, “I’d be so scared to venture near the green room.”
Mohammad hero-worships his father so much so that he carries a portrait of him on his person wherever he travels, a custom he follows to this day. A reluctant entrant to the theatre scene, he has since then gone on to win several accolades across the world, and is now considered as the highest-paid theatre actor in the country. He has a Kollywood link as well: after debuting in 2017’s Tamil hit Aruvi , he’s now sharing screen space with actor Vikram in his upcoming film Cobra . Excerpts from a free-wheeling chat with the actor who is in Chennai currently:
What made you join the team of Cobra ?
I think it was because of my performance inAruvi that the makers of Cobra approached me. It’s an interesting role — one that I cannot talk much about at the moment. The director (Ajay Gnanamuthu) and I worked a lot on the character’s look and behaviour. What’s most important to me is to internalise a character. I believe actors are performers, and not mimics.
Did Aruvi open the doors of Tamil cinema to you?
What I loved about Shakeel Waqaab, the IPS character I play in the film, was that he couldn’t be defined as a protagonist or antagonist. After the acclaim I got for the role, I did get a lot of offers from some of the biggest production houses in Tamil cinema. Most of them wanted me to be a cop or play the Commissioner. But that was not what I really wanted to be doing. So, I gave them all a pass till Cobra came along.
That an actor-star like Vikram plays the lead might have made your decision easier?
All my shots are with him (Vikram). He’s an extreme sweetheart and a very charming co-star. He’s blessed with not just talent but also abundant energy. That is extremely inspiring and contagious. At 4 am, he would be a bundle of energy. While most of us would be looking forward to pack up, he would be discussing his next shot.
The director is two films old, but you’re an experienced theatre personality. How did the meeting of minds happen?
An actor should always submit to the director; it’s like fluid in a bottle. You cannot come with a set mind to approach a role in a certain way and not be open to ideas. Cinema is a director’s medium.
You’re the youngest Padma Shri in theatre in India. Do filmmakers think about that while casting you?
Sometimes, it does put off people. Filmmakers are unsure about how to handle me. For them, it’s like having a boil on the palm... so they keep away. But people who know me and my work approach me.
Like the makers of upcoming Telugu film, Kalinga , in which you play the lead role?
Ah, yes. In Kalinga , I play a celebrated anthropologist in Kerala who has a tragedy, then takes to alcohol, and shifts base to Hyderabad. There, he loses his daughter, and the film is about the journey of finding her. They had spoken to a few stars earlier, but when they spoke to me, I explained what I thought about the character.
On the first day of shoot, I did what the director asked of me, and afterwards, I requested him to approach the same thing in a different way. The director was floored by that, and we have modelled the entire film based on that characterisation.
With such a rich theatre background, how did you get into films in the first place?
Shyam Benegal brought me into screen acting. He was close to my father — my dad’s first film, Ankur , was directed by him — and I’ve grown up respecting him. One day, he called me and said that he wanted me to play Jinnah in an upcoming project. He wanted an actor who is equally proficient in Hindi, English and Urdu, and who can carry tuxedos and sherwanis with equal ease. We got a whole wardrobe done, but as we were going through the script, he realised that Jinnah, in his project, was already elderly and ailing, and that I was too young to play it.
So, it didn’t happen. But I thought that it was encouraging that the first call I got from the cinema industry was from an ace filmmaker like him, and not from a casting director.
Do you take inspiration from something particular for your varied characters? Some actors say that they observe a real person to play a role...
I differ a bit there. When some actors say that I watched a real-life person to play a character, I think that’s imitating. Personally, I don’t think that’s performing. The only exception to that is when you’re playing a character in people’s memory like Mahatma Gandhi or MGR or Jayalalithaa.
Apart from your theatre productions, you are also doing a web series ( Baahubali for Netflix) in which you play a warrior...
He’s not just a warrior, but also a womaniser. I had my doubts about the intimate scenes; there was some discomfort that I had with that. I think that actors have to draw their line of ethics and comfort zone when they choose a role, and be careful about what is, in his mind, a legitimate performing zone.
Of course, it can differ from one actor to another. Fortunately, the makers of Baahubali worked it out to a level of comfort that I was agreeable with.
How smooth has the transition from theatre to other mediums like cinema and OTT platforms been?
Adapting is the key. As an actor, it’s a challenge to adapt to various dynamics. With theatre, there’s strict discipline and regimen. With cinema, it’s more liberal.
For me, it’s a two-fold challenge: not only is the format different, but I’m also getting out of my comfort zone, which is my own production and direction. But I’m having fun, and that’s most important.
