Critically acclaimed actor Adil Hussain is known for his award-winning performances in independent and commercial cinema as well as Indo-European art-house films and theatre. His body of work include films like Oscar-winning ‘Life of Pi’, ‘What will People Say’, ‘Mukti Bhavan’, ‘Lessons in Forgetting’ and ‘The Reluctant Fundamentalist’, among others.

Hussain studied acting at the National School of Dramaand later at the Drama Studio London on Charles Wallace India Trust Scholarship. He has taught acting at the NSD, Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, Royal Conservatory of Performing Arts in The Hague, and the Drama School Amsterdam.

In a free-wheeling chat with Geetanjali Minhas, Hussain spoke on a range of things –reimagining our education system, promoting arts as a career option, influence of his teachers and more.

Edited excerpts from the interview:

From studying at NSD to becoming its visiting faculty and achieving accolades as a renowned actor in between, how do you view this journey of your life so far?   
I never imagined that I would be doing what I'm doing now or people would regard my work with so much love and respect or that I would meet these amazing people who taught me wholeheartedly and unselfishly. I never imagined that I would be doing films from across the globe that in the film I am acting will win. That the film in which I am acting will win Oscars. I only feel a lot of gratitude for this. Everything that I have gotten so far is a gift from heaven.

How do you view the current generation of actors?
There are amazing actors coming out nowadays. A lot of them are highly trained and many are intuitively good. There is a lot of talent across the country and they should be encouraged and tapped by the different film industries across the country and included in their imagination.

When you see actors from Russia, Norwegian or American Independent series, Swedish series, those from independent cinema from across the world, Turkish, European ... typical Hollywood platforms are not talking about are amazing actors. Most of them are well trained in their contours from drama schools. They understand the craft and go deeper into the role. That, I feel, is a necessity and also good for emotional health and growth as an actor.

What are the essentials of an actor and how do you define creativity?
It is given that an actor should be deeply empathetic. It helps you acquire artistic morality as against having views given by the narrow lens of society.  An actor must read a lot. Every subject is important in acting; all of it. An actor should be extremely curious about the universe at large. Creativity is a flow that you allow to happen as an actor, painter or writer. You become the medium of something you don't know where it comes from. The flow of energy makes you act, write or dance. When you know what you are doing it ceases to be creative.

You once said that our education system is breeding competitiveness and consumerist culture. How is this approach impacting cinema and how is it translating in the way audiences relate to a film?
Our factory-like education system is devoid of creativity or practising arts education. Despite that, people like me refused to be streamlined and decided to pursue their passion.

The British changed our Gurukul education system to produce their work-force/labour to run their kind of government, instead of overall development of students. We have been deprived to the point that we have now become a consumerist country while the West and the Scandinavian countries are moving away from it slowly. Their school systems have changed. Even the British school system has changed. But we are stuck with what has been handed to us by the British.

An education system which kills your perception to perceive and discern nuance and subtlety is handicapped. That is why acting is loud. High art does not spoon-feed. It is never in your face, loud or gauche. Loudness is also connected to brazenness. The audience, instead of becoming active participants in the process of deciphering creativity, likes to be spoon-fed. And then we have to make films which are screaming, loud, have vulgar dialogues and funny gestures and those films are being appreciated because over 80% of our population enjoys that – though with the advent of OTT platforms, it has become slightly gentler.

Despite this, we have best classical music and dance traditions in the world that have survived indifference of 99% of Indian population. That shows its strength. If our education system was strong enough to teach people to appreciate these art forms we could truly become Vishwagurus. Right now we are in the rudimentary state.

Mainstream cinema has moved away from the art form to purely commercial today. How do you view the impact of this transition? What has led to this scenario? What is the impact of OTT on industry?
Mainstream Hindi films have most of the time catered to – as Sri Aurobindo puts it – the lower chakras, which is below the navel: violence, sex, gore, deceit and jealousy, the most exciting energies in human body and easily stir-able. Commercial films for me means lack of subtlety, lack of nuance, mostly binary –enhanced version of fear and emotions which are easily stir-able, like anxiety and sexual overtones. These are the ones people have been fed for the last 50-60 years. Somewhere there will be limit because it has already probably come to that place that most of the films are not even working. Even now meaningful and wonderful films that show human conditions and its complexities will do very well in the halls. Yet the audience with such capabilities is not being able to watch such films because such films are not being promoted. We quite often underestimated the audience.

With the emergence of OTT and the availability of the 4G/5G spectrum in villages, people now see all kinds of content and find it very interesting. Our education has been such that we have given up the attitude of inquiring and find out good things. We now need a platform in front of us.  

You have said that your teachers at NSD had a deep influence on you. Can you tell us how?
In every way. Especially my teachers like Khalid Tayeb-ji, Robin Das, Nina Joshi, Anamika Haksar, Arjun Raina, Dr Anuradha Kapur, Kirti Jain, Naseeruddin Shah and Barry John have been my guiding lights. They have introduced me to myself, my capabilities and the world of art.
 
To study acting, I never knew, I have to study history of art from Egypt to Ajanta Ellora to Japanese paintings to… modern renaissance, post-modernism … expressionism. They introduced me to the world of art and how acting could become a vehicle for the search for truth. That it is not a goal. The deeper you get into it the deeper you can go. In the process these teachers have taught me the value of self-esteem, humility, dignity, the meaning of ego and arrogance. Khalid specially made me reinvent my physical body and learn how emotions work. If I were to write a book it has to have two-three chapters on each of my teachers. NSD and my teachers are responsible for my rebirth. I owe everything to my teachers.
 
Cinema has a huge fan following and more and more people are drawn to acting as a profession. However, there is a lack of necessary infrastructure for training. NSD in Delhi takes only 26-29 students. What needs to be done, especially when the government is promoting culture and tourism?     
To start with, every district should have an Arts Centre dealing with at least seven-eight practicing art and craft forms like music, dance, acting, creative writing, handicrafts, culinary arts, carpentry etc. This has to be promoted as a viable career option for parents who want their children to become doctors and engineers. This also has to be glamorised and given that space in the public imagination so that people can practise it to make a living out of it.

Imagine a centre like that. It should be revolutionised and radicalised with a long-term plan. A person should be able to pursue anything and not just what is ridiculously put forward by the government. We have to be visionary in order to make India what it actually deserves. We do not deserve to become a mall-oriented country.  

There should be government jobs. In the entire country there is only one National Repertory Company. Probably only 20 actors could be given jobs with good salaries. For example, I could devote six-seven months a year to only teaching at NSD if they increased my salary. I will teach if they paid me Rs 3-4 lakh a month. As a visiting faculty at the most, after TDS deduction if my salary is Rs 90,000, it is impossible for me to run my family, even if I curtail my expenses.

If you were not a creative person, you would have been….
Creativity is not exclusive to a few people. It is for everybody. It is just that society has failed to detect where that creativity lies. I had several other interests but I got into acting because it was my passion. I also deeply love sketching, dancing, cooking. I could have been a travel writer. I could have been a public counsellor or been in politics. I love teaching. All my family members were teachers.