‘Freedom at Midnight’ interview: Arif Zakaria on playing Nehru and Jinnah

Arif Zakaria as Jinnah in a still from ‘Freedom at Midnight’
| Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

One of the performances of 2024 that will stay with us for some time is Arif Zakaria’s portrayal of Muhammad Ali Jinnah in Nikhil Advani’s Freedom At Midnight. An industrious actor, Zakaria comes from a political family in Mumbai that produced stalwarts like Rafiq Zakaria and, interestingly, had played Jawaharlal Nehru in the past.

Growing up in South Mumbai, Zakaria says he could sense the spirit of Jinnah in the air. “Apart from practising in the Bombay High Court, Jinnah was a socialite who frequented the Willingdon Club and Mumbai gymkhana. During our walks in the neighbourhood, my father would share stories of his now-dilapidated bungalow on Malabar Hill.”

Arif Zakaria
| Photo Credit:
SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Zakaria saw Jinnah as an introvert with a strange mix of superiority and inferiority complexes. “He would claim to be the sole representative of Muslims but was not a practising Muslim himself. Barring the name, you can’t consider Jinnah a Muslim from any angle. He would not even get Urdu poetry and switched from suit to sherwani quite late in his public life for political reasons. While Gandhiji smartly reached out to grassroots politics, he limited himself to armchair intellectual discussions for a long time. I felt, deep inside, that he must have been conscious of this dichotomy. The writing provided me an opportunity to bring up these delicate layers.”

An effective performance, says Zakaria, demands time. “As the shoot got postponed for a year because Nikhil wanted more time for research, it provided the opportunity for several workshops and table reads to work out the nuances.” Zakaria has the habit of writing the traits of the character on the side of the script.

Arif Zakaria as Jinnah
| Photo Credit:
SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

“I saw Jinnah as a domineering figure whose dialogue delivery would be like a bark. It required the tone of an egoistic man whose gaze would be piercing and his gait had to be strong and elegant. But then we also had to incorporate into the portrayal his ailment, tuberculosis.” The toughest part for Zakaria was to portray Jinnah as a chain smoker. “I don’t smoke but for the role I had to. Somehow our DOPs love to capture the smoke. So, even in scenes where I didn’t have the talking part, I was expected to make smoke rings,” grins Zakaria.

The seasoned actor is grateful to the casting team for considering him for the role despite knowing that he had played Nehru not once but twice in the past. “As an artist, I see the ideological aspect of the character from a distance. I have also played an absolute right winger in Leila. It is the physicality part of historical characters that I am conscious of. My aim is not to recreate but to represent the character. Their walk was similar but unlike Jinnah, I saw Nehru as a gregarious person with lesser hair on the pate.”

Arif Zakaria
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SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

After making a name on Doordarshan with engrossing campus stories, Zakaria made a foray into films with a complex gender-fluid role in Kalpana Lajmi’s Darmiyaan and is still remembered for his sensitive portrayal of a transgender called Immi. It is said that Lajmi approached several mainstream actors, including Shah Rukh Khan, before settling for Zakaria.

He says actors talk about their urge for challenging roles but when the real challenge knocks at the door, many turn away. In the ‘90s, he says, exploring the feminine side of the central protagonist was taboo. “Screenwriters were not writing ‘hero in a sari’ scenes then.” He followed it up with the role of a Bharatanatyam dancer in Dance Like A Man for which he learnt the dance form. He gives credit to co-actor danseuse Shobana and director Mahesh Dattani for helping him make the dance portions believable.

“Along with Mardana in Nanak Shah Fakir, I see them as fragile characters that must be imbued with sensitivity. Even the strongest characters like Jinnah have a fragile side; if the writing allows, the actor can humanise them.” The seeds of change in Jinnah’s personality, he says, come through in the scenes depicting the Nagpur session of the Congress where Jinnah is shouted down by delegates supporting Gandhi.

Arif Zakaria
| Photo Credit:
SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

After the serious stuff, Zakaria is preparing himself for a musical comedy in Bollywood Masala that will be staged in Paris this week. “It is a spoof on Bollywood that provides me with an opportunity to try physical comedy and a smattering of French dialogues.” It is his second collaboration with theatre director Toby Gough after The Merchants of Bollywood. Playing a chef who caters to the taste of top Bollywood stars, “It is a kind of mini tour of India that provides a glimpse of our cuisines and cinema in between elaborate dance sequences.”

‘Freedom at Midnight’ is currently streaming on SonyLiv