Ali Fazal Recalls How ‘Judi Dench Had Cutely Done Homework’ on His Filmography

'In 'Mirzapur', I wasn't offered Guddu to begin with," Ali Fazal says.

Ali Fazal talks about Mirzapur, working with Judi Dench and more.

(Photo Courtesy: The Quint)

Ali Fazal sat down with The Quint for this episode of What’s Your Story? to talk about his days in Doon School, Dehradun, how he landed his role in Fast & Furious 7, his first reading with Richa Chadha during the shoot for Fukrey, and much more. 

Speaking of working in the Aamir Khan-starrer 3 Idiots, Fazal says, “My biggest issue while shooting '3 Idiots' was that there is a shot where I need to be wearing a harness...in the death scene. For the harness, they were making holes in it. I lost it and I was like, 'You're making holes in my shirts'. So they said, ‘Yeah so...get another shirt,’ but I said, ‘No no no, it's my shirt! I want my shirt!’ So they stitched it back and gave it back to me. Now I think about it and I must've looked so stupid...so naïve.”

The actor is very well-known for his role as Guddu bhaiyya in Mirzapur. 

“‘Mirzapur’ was the first of its kind...so were shows like Inside Edge and Sacred Games. I had seen this happen in the West. I wasn't offered Guddu to begin with but I said, 'No, this is the one I can understand' because I thought I could bring something to the table. I imagined Guddu without hair and I imagined him in whatever avatar (he has).” 

Ali Fazal, Actor

He added that he was initially offered Munna, the role Divyendu Sharma essays in the series. Fazal goes on to talk about how ‘one bullet ride from Dehradun to Mussoorie and ZIP files’ secured him his cameo role in Fast & Furious and how he has never met someone with the kind of range that Richa Chadha has. 

When asked about working with Judi Dench in Stephen Frears’ Victoria & Abdul, Fazal recalls, “It was literally like going to meet the Queen. I'd never set foot in London before that and I've entered and I'm meeting somebody who is probably more popular than the Queen at the time.”

“And it was the cutest meeting ever because she, somebody who has won every award there is in the world, has cutely done homework on my filmography which was nothing at the time.”

Ali Fazal, Actor 

Fazal goes on to talk about shooting Death on the Nile, the toughest part of shooting Kandahar, how he handles social media reactions, and much more.  Watch the video for more. 

Video Editor: Arnab Chakravorty