A child prodigy, Sheikha Jawaher bint Abdullah al Qasimi has been a passionate advocate of cinema and the need to teach visual grammar early in children to create a generation of impactful storytellers
The movie is about a battle between two geniuses. I play a small-town kid with a brilliant mind who is raised by priests. My character has a very sharp mind and a very high IQ level. He believes in God as much as he does in science. He embodies both, the culture of India and the modernism of the current world. At the age of 21, he is hired by RAW to work as an agent. He then gets embroiled in a battle of wits with another genius (played by Nawazzuddin) - lots of mind games, thrilling action and romance follows.
I've worked with him as a child actor in Gadar... I've also assisted him in Veer. So, I was already familiar with his work ethic - he's a task master. He works 48 hours at a stretch and expects everyone to keep up with him. I knew what was in store for me in this movie. He was going to make me work very hard, but I relished it. Having got the opportunity, I was delighted to work under him as I knew I would have a lot of space for improvisation. We were very professional on set and he treated me like any other actor. The whole process was very collaborative.
I think it's a fair debate. There's nothing wrong in it. If there are people (who have family members) in the industry who are passionate about films, shouldn't they get a chance? Is that illegal? Because I'm genuinely passionate about films. That's all I've been doing since my childhood. I've worked a lot behind the scenes. I feel that in any industry, if you have a family member, it will help you get a role, but ultimately, you have to fulfill that role, that's my responsibility. I have to live up to it!
I learnt a lot from them. Mithun Da and Nawaz Sir are both actors of the highest order. The one common thing about them is that they are very grounded despite their fame and achievements. Something that Nawaz Sir always did, if he was on set for 12 hours, he would be working on his nuances, his dialogues and his body language. Seeing him work so hard, really fires you up.
Yes, I'm inspired by the veteran actor, Dilip Kumar. I truly believe that the kind of cinema he did at that time (in the 50's and 60's) is relevant even today. His acting was so natural and organic, I don't know how we've forgotten to act like that. His body of work can be compared with the likes of greats like Marlon Brando or James Dean. I believe he was an actor of incredible class and I've seen his movies and monologues multiple times. Every time I watch his movies, I find something new to learn from him.
Well, right now, I'm in talks with people and hopefully in a couple of weeks I can share some good news with everyone.
A child prodigy, Sheikha Jawaher bint Abdullah al Qasimi has been a passionate advocate of cinema and the need to teach visual grammar early in children to create a generation of impactful storytellers
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