Tiger Zinda Hai actor Sajjad Delafrooz: People know that the person playing villain’s role is also an actor. Actor Sajjad Delafrooz of Tiger Zinda Hai fame says that he never had any inhibitions about making his big Bollywood debut playing a negative role.
Actor Sajjad Delafrooz won a million hearts when he played the role of Abu Usman, the terrifying yet suave antagonist in Salman Khan-starrer Tiger Zinda Hai (December, 2017). While many would think twice before making a debut playing a negative character, Sajjad says that he didn’t have any such inhibitions. “I don’t believe feels apprehensive of these things, because the audience is more aware of movies now. They even know how movies are made,” says the 34-year-old, adding that often people have told him about the cameras being used.
“So, that means the audience knows that the person who’s playing the villain’s role is also an actor and is just playing a part on-screen. And therefore, it’s not worrying at all. That’s a good thing rather, as it gives us the actors, more choices to play different roles,” adds the Iran-born actor.
Also, many actors think that debuting with a certain role leads to getting typecast easily, as filmmakers offer them similar roles in future, too. Sajjad, however, says that he doesn’t fear that anything of that sort might happen to him as he progresses in his acting career. “It’s very interesting — acting and fear — they are always in fight. For me, when I decided to become an actor, I told myself I should not have fear anymore. But of course, as human beings, we always have fear. It just depends on us how we fight it,” he explains.
As for getting stereotyped as a villain, he states, “I don’t have that [ or feel that way]. Because even doing a villainous role, it is a different role, and challenging, too. And that’s all I want to do.”
He says it’s an added advantage that even an antagonist today is considered as a parallel lead. “I’ve been trying so hard for many years to get a good role. So I was just so happy to work with Salman and an amazing director like Ali [Abbaz Zafar]. All I was looking for was a chance. I don’t feel that newcomers care if the role would have the same impact as a hero or the lead role, today. They always look for that right chance, and if they get it, nothing else matters,” the actor concludes.