Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, talks with Subhash K Jha About playing a role of murder suspect in the hit series Criminal Justice Season 4, working with the incredible cast, plus more!
What is it like working with Applause Entertainment and Sameer Nair?
Sameer sir, definitely. He is one of my favourite person also. I just love him. The way he talks and his knowledge. I also love reading and he also enjoys that. And every time we talk about books also, he sends a few books across. I have also gifted him a few books. So I think it is more like an intellectual thing that I really enjoy working with him. And he doesn’t trouble you as an actor. His understanding of performances and of the creative side is also superb. Generally, we don’t find that in producers. Which is fine. I’m not complaining about that. But I think it is always great to work with someone who understands the craft also. And Sameer sir is a gem of a person. I just love him. He is a great person.
In Criminal Justice you have to stand accused in the courtroom most of the time?
I think stress-wise and everything, I have never been the accused in a courtroom drama. So definitely a different thing. And it was quite challenging also, because in court, you are just standing there and people are talking about you and you are not, you just have to respond. And it has to be a bit realistic also. So you should not respond for the audience, you should be responding to the situation and just be in the zone, rather than showing your emotions or dictating or spoon feeding your emotions to the audience. So definitely a different thing in that sense.
Also brilliant co-stars?
And then, yeah, definitely to work with actors like, it is always a pleasure to work with really good actors. So Surveen was a fun person and Pankaj bhai, though, we don’t have much work together. Obviously, it looks like that we are working together, but to watch Pankaj bhai play with his lines and everything, while we are shooting the courtroom, it was definitely fun. And I’ve known Pankaj bhai from the last almost, I would say twenty years or so. He had just passed out from NSD when I was entering NSD. So definitely I’ve known him. Meeta Vashisht ji, I met for the first time, again, not much work with her. But definitely it is always good to have really trained and confident actors on set. I think that is a pleasure for any actor. So yes, I’m really happy that I got to work with these actors.
Are you comfortable playing morally ambivalent characters?
I think it is better, honestly, sir. As an actor, it is always good to play a character that is grey in shade. Honestly, to play an idealist or I think it makes the character very flat. You don’t have much to explore in there. So it becomes difficult also. And then you have to try and find new things. But when you are playing something like this, and it has a grey shade to it, then it is always fun because you have the whole field to play. So yeah, I think I get more excited when I get these kind of characters.
What do you look for in your scripts these days?
I think if there is something that excites me, I think now, after working for so many years, I think that is something that I look forward to. It should excite me while reading the script. Obviously, you have to work sometimes just for money. I’ll be very honest with you. You do a few projects where it’s like, okay, you’re getting some money, you’re not getting any good scripts right now. So you wait for that. And now I’ve started doing that also that if it’s a good script, and even if it’s not the main character, because since last three, four years, I started getting really good characters, the central characters. Sometimes it happens. But if you get something that excites you in the script, where you agree with the script, not with the character, I think exploring a character, which is very far from you is always a pleasure, always great fun. But a script you should agree with somewhere down the line, because otherwise, I don’t enjoy it. Then it’s just like that you’re going there, you’re just taking your lines, delivering your lines, with the basic conviction, you don’t feel like adding anything to the, to the main script. So I think it should excite me, it should surprise me somewhere. And obviously, there’s some director approaching me for a character that I have never played a different zone that always excites me more because it shows that that director has looked beyond just the main character. And he’s looked beyond the other characters that I’ve played. And maybe they have seen more work. They understand that I’m an actor who can play different characters rather than just being like, oh, his last performance in that film was very good. So I’ll cast him. I’ll give him exactly the same character. So I think that that is also great.
Do you feel energized when you have dependable co-stars?
Thank you so much, sir, for this question. I think Criminal Justice is an important thing, because obviously, it is kind of a legacy. The three seasons have worked really well. I’ve heard that. So, so and to work with someone like Pankaj Bhai (Tripathi), you get to observe him while working on the on sets. And with director Rohan Sippy sir, I was waiting for so long. We’ve been talking from last almost ten years or maybe more to He wanted to work with me, he was trying in this or that. And it never worked out something or the other was happening every time. So that was also really exciting that, okay, Rohan sir is there. I’m really happy it was really different because generally people give me dialogue based characters. But in Criminal Justice, I’m silent and it is just about what is happening inside this man. And to look at me in this light, I think that was really exciting.
Your forthcoming projects?
There are many projects that I’ve been working on since the last two years, most of them are lined up to release by the end of this year. I finished Anubhav Sinha’s latest film. And then Anurag Kashyap finished his two part film, Nishanchi. I’m there. Thee also playing a very different character. Then one more film will be releasing this year. Nikhil Advani produced it. I think they’re trying to release it in July. Then now, there is a very interesting show by Nikhil Mahajan that I’ll be starting maybe next month. We haven’t finalized the dates yet. I did one international film also with BFI. So good things are happening. I hope that I’ll be able to deliver up to the mark and everything. So yes, things are happening, though there is a slump in the market, but I am really lucky, I should not complain.
