Hard work, talent and gumption are the only noises this couple is interested in making

Hard work, talent and gumption are the only noises this couple is interested in making. Ali Fazal and Richa Chadha, our March 2023 digital cover stars are glamorous yet beautifully subtle in their ways. In an intimate chat with both, we get to learn about how the couple maintains their relationship whilst being full time hard working actors in a cut-throat India film industry. Needless to say, they have an action-packed 2023 ahead of them.

Masala: For Ali – You are perceived to be a niche actor, by acting in films like Victoria and Abdul. Do you feel like your choices of characters are niche?

Ali Fazal: I suppose the commercial viability of the parts that I have done in India just do not fit. The choice of playing Abdul Kareem in Victoria and Abdul, it being how it is, is a far bigger film than what comes out on an average scale in India. I think no actor would think to use the word niche when they are choosing characters. I think for me it is being able to see something that I can bring out this particular character on paper that works in my head, knowing that the team is right for it and right for me to help me elevate this part. That’s when I take on something, not because I am reading a script and I find something niche.

Masala: For Ali – If offered, would you like to act in a Bollywood family drama film, like Cirkus?

Ali Fazal: Cirkus is a comedy and I love comedy. I think Kapoor & Sons is also a family drama and I love that! I would love to be a part of that [film] and work with those directors. There are so many other great family dramas that I would love to be a part of. I did meet Rohit sir. He’s made some fantastic, larger than life action films. He asked whether I want to play an antagonist or a protagonist. I feel like I don’t care about this. For instance, Guddu in Mirzapur is almost like a villain. But there are so many likable characters in the world that we can create and be the part of. However, I don’t know if I would choose to do Cirkus at this stage in my career.

Masala: For Ali – What does your dream film, and role look like?

Ali Fazal: Man, it’s a loaded question! I think for actors, our dreams and roles are quite fickle. They change every year you ask us. Forget having achieved those goals and dreams. For the longest times, I wanted to do a biopic. I did a biopic and I did that with Victoria and Abdul. I mean now I want to work with top few directors that I look up to. Not because they are fancy such as Scorsese, Nolan. But because they work very closely with actors. I don’t think nobody has ever really pushed me away from my comfort zone. I would love that to begin with.

Masala: For both – As outsiders, how difficult was it to break into an industry, where star kids have it easy?

Ali Fazal: I never thought of it like this. It is what it is because that is the real way of working. Every industry has somebody, somewhere who was born into it, and man, if I had my kids born into the legacy I leave behind or am currently building it, I would love for them to get a taste of it. Think it from my perspective: I created it, I worked hard for it. I would love my people, my family to get a taste of some of what I have worked hard for.

Richa Chadha: It would’ve been easier to break in if we were star kids. However, I do think that unless you have talent, you won’t last. You may keep getting opportunities but it’s not for certain that the public will accept you or that you will become a successful actor. There are several examples: only people with guts, intelligence and talent will last.

Masala: For both – You have launched your production house, The Pushing Buttons Studios. Is it because it’s difficult to get your choice of preferred work?

Ali Fazal: No, that wasn’t the reasoning. It’s just that the world got bigger and so did our dreams. I don’t think that the bubble we live in can hold that and create that. So, apart from all the work we are doing back home, all the work I am doing in India and the work I am doing outside, I think there’s a bigger world out there that I want to explore through our studio and ideas.

Richa Chadha: No, we didn’t launch The Pushing Buttons because we were not getting work of our choice. In fact, we are both very grateful of the fantastic films and series we have been part of. The only thing is you don’t have much creative say in what you’re putting down on paper when you are just actors. However, when you are producers, you are putting a project together as a filmmaker – in any role behind the camera you do have a say and you can become an active creative collaborator. You suddenly have more agency over your creative destiny.

Masala: For both – Avant garde actors, Avant garde sensibilities…what are a few things that attract you about each other?

Ali Fazal: We share notes sometimes. We don’t really talk about each other’s work a lot but when we are producing, that’s the time we play ball and that’s fun. That’s attractive. Her take on a lot of things, her craft, her vision for whatever she wants to be a part of or whatever we are creating; that’s exciting. I don’t find many people who have a worldview like hers.

Richa Chadha: I’m attracted to Ali’s intelligence, his compassion. I really do find kindness sexy. I find vulnerability very sexy. It’s attractive. I don’t when we went from people who used to like suiting company called the complete man. I find it really forced that we are supposed to enjoy this alpha, macho man. Not to say that Ali is not all those things because he’s already all those things, he doesn’t have to prove it. You see shades of Guddu Pandit in him. He embraces all his sides; he’s intelligent, compassionate, he’s very committed to his work, he’s a great life partner – the best I could ask for.

In pictures: Ali Fazal and Richa Chadha’s regal Lucknow wedding

Masala: For both – Not as actors but as human beings, how you manage to wipe clean a fight/ argument?

Ali Fazal: We understand each other. We do fight. Sometimes, we don’t know how to wipe it clean. We have good arguments; sometimes I have to give it to her. We like to have a good fight but we do clean it up pretty fast.

Richa Chadha: I mean we do fight; it’s only natural. But we just giggle and it ends very quickly. I think over the years, the duration of our fights and our non-communicative spells have been shortening.

Masala: For both – What is the one thing you were not prepared for when you entered the industry?

Ali Fazal: Oh, man. I think I was not prepared for my ignorance of the industry. I always thought that just my pure love for cinema was enough. I had to learn the ways of Bollywood, to a point where it really shook me. I was reprimanded for asking for a script from a big production house. How can I ask for a script? That was the point where I thought maybe something’s wrong. It’s all about one-upping each other, it’s all about who’s there at the party first, who’s there at the finish line first. I see it like a little cartoon where actors are running and are chasing directors. There’s no system which can point out a right actor for a perfect role. That is what I was not prepared for.

Richa Chadha: I wasn’t prepared for people around me to change. I felt as soon as I got a limited degree of success, my friends started assuming I would behave differently and then they changed how they would behave with me. Perhaps some extended family, neighbours, people in my extended circle – that was something I wasn’t prepared of. All this has made me a little vary. I look at my school friends and people who knew me before I got famous, not that I haven’t made lasting connections in the industry, but sometimes it gets difficult to figure out what someone’s agenda is.

Masala: For both – Can you share any advice for couples who are trying to balance their personal and professional life in the entertainment industry?

Ali Fazal: My advice is that listen to each other, keep the jokes coming in. All that matters is there’s no drama between you two on a personal level. Be around them. Love them. We keep twisting about great words to sum up fights, relationships but you just have to hug it out. Sometimes, you just have to love the person you love.

Richa Chadha: Try and spend more time together.

Masala: For both – Workwise, what projects are in the pipeline and what about them excites you the most?

Ali Fazal: I have couple of releases this year. I have Vishal Bharadwaj’s ‘Khuufiya’ coming; I think it’s coming out around 28th April, May. It has a great cast. Very excited about it since this is my first time working with Vishal Bharadwaj. I am also working with Anurag Basu next so I am also really excited about that. Kandahar, which is a hard-core action film, is from the same guys who made John Wick. I love this film because I had never done this kind of film before. There’s action, there’s fight sequences. A very new me you’re going to see – kicking Gerard Butler’s ass – or trying to, at least! [he laughs] That is coming on May 26 – it’s a worldwide release.

There’s also a very cute film titled Afghan Dreamers directed by Oscar winner Bill Guttentag. It’s a very important film to me. It’s about first Afghani women’s robotic team that was made to help these girls escape the Taliban rule. It’s a very cool story. I have Mirzapur season 3 releasing; so, I think that’s just going to be a mammoth takeover once it releases (second half of the year). It’s coming out the second half of the year. It’s not too bad.

Richa Chadha: Well, I have Fukrey 3, Heeramandi, and an untitled film by Abhishek Acharya. I am excited about all three because they are all very different from one another. Heeramandi is a very big, lavish period drama. Fukrey 3 is a comedy franchise film that even the kids adore. Third is quite a gritty, real film.

Masala: For both – What are some truths about the industry that aspirants must know, and some myths about the industry you two would like to break…

Ali Fazal: We are one of the most unique industries in the world. We produce a huge number of films every year. We also have distinct colours, sounds to our cinema. Every Indian in his heart carries DDLJ, Hum Aapke Hain Kon, Guru Dutt, Amitabh Bachchan and Dilip Kumar. They are evergreen stars and I think the star system in itself is very unique. It has its own flare. It’s beautiful. I think the obsession with male actor about their bodies. I saw an Instagram page of an actor recently and it said he’s an actor but there was nothing about acting on his page! It was a cosmetic how of his body parts and how well built they are. I did that in couple of my projects. I’ve been there and done that. But it can’t be the only thing. We need to change this mindset.

We must try and learn the craft in as many ways as possible. We must not fall for really expensive theoretical institutions that teach acting in India. They just charge people a lot of money. These are people coming in from all over India, trying to learn acting. I see a lot of people overcharging these guys.

Richa Chadha: I think that it is a myth that you can survive purely on connections and just going to parties, or you have an affair with someone famous. That’s usually the shortest ladder for success but it doesn’t last. So, I’d like to break that myth. The advice? The only truth about the industry is that if the quality of your work keeps improving then nobody can stop you.