Mysticism, Shakespearean theatre and getting out of film characters: Adil Hussain speaks of his artistic journey

The de-roling challenge must be one of those occupational hazards that most actors encounter at some point in their careers. So, when Adil Hussain (Life of Pi/English Vinglish) was asked during a recent interaction at Alliance Francaise about which of his characters remained stuck with him, the actor responded that in his artistic journey, it was more the engagement with theatre more than films, that left him struggling to step out of a character.

The de-roling challenge must be one of those occupational hazards that most actors encounter at some point in their careers.

So, when Adil Hussain (Life of Pi/English Vinglish) was asked during a recent interaction at Alliance Francaise about which of his characters remained stuck with him, the actor responded that in his artistic journey, it was more the engagement with theatre more than films, that left him struggling to step out of a character.

For this alumnus of the National School of Drama, who has successfully straddled art house and commercial cinema, transiting out of roles was a challenge while engaging in theatre of a particularly exacting kind that involved intense and long-spanning, linear schedules of rehearsals.

Citing the time he played Mephistopheles in “Dr. Faustus” by Christopher Marlowe, he recalled how the experience remained with him for a long time and that “it wasn’t very pleasant.”

There was also the time he was put through the emotional wringer during a theatre fellowship for ten years doing Shakespeare plays. “Shakespeare can be very beautiful and also brutal”, Adil said about the Bard’s way with words and his capacity to invoke a gamut of intense human emotions.

“So, I tried to find another way to get into a role...a very Indian way where I try to find this space within that is very safe and expansive and then I dive into the darkness”.

His search for deeper understanding of the self, led him to explore the teachings of Ramana Maharshi, the theory of time by Stephen Hawking, quantum consciousness by Roger Penrose and Sri Aurobindo’s letters on yoga and essays on Gita — there would also be other material on death that he read such as the Tibetan Book of the Dead and Shaman stories from South America.