Actor Manu Rishi Chadha , who played General Pervez Musharraf (later became President of Pakistan ) in Operation Safed Sagar , says he is getting both hate and love for playing the role of the mastermind behind the aggression that led to the Kargil War in 1999.
“I just saw 1-2 videos but then I decided not to, otherwise it will become caricaturish. I feel that the hate is also love which means the work was appreciated. The actor tells HT City, “Social media and my message box is filled with DMs. Someone wrote that he wants to slap me for the act and hug me for my work. I was like… please don’t slap as if others too feel the same it will be too much (laughs). Getting in the skin of the Musharaff was not easy and for that he stayed away from the available references. Initially, my first question was how do I look like him? Also, hero ki duniye mein villain banna and that too a real person was a challenge. But, my director Oni Sen and creators Abhijeet Parmar and Kushal Srivastava were confident. I asked him how he played (Saadat Hasan) Manto in the film and he was like there was no reference of him except his photo and work so created and worked on his human side – right or wrong! So, I decided that I will just follow my director and creators’ vision. The team worked on the physical looks part but not on the persona. “Kahin mimick na ho jaye – yeh dar bhi rakha aur jimmedari bhi rakhi! As Indian, I can hate him but as actor I can’t! My process was that after wearing uniform I will become true to it and Pakistan. I started believing that I am Musharraf who is very loyal and honest to his country, his extreme hatred (for India) and his (Kashmir) mission. My nervous energy helped me focus.”
Expressing his process, he says, “I was wondering how to prepare and I got a message from Nawaz(uddin Siddiqui, actor) that let’s meet for lunch.
