Ali Fazal on signing a biopic in Hollywood: I am the first one on board

Actor Ali Fazal talks about taking his Hollywood career forward after Victoria & Abdul, in which his co-star is Judi Dench, and his next film, which is a biopic. But, he clarifies, he is ‘not abandoning India’.

Actor Ali Fazal’s international film, Victoria & Abdul, has opened to a warm response around the world. And just before its commercial release in India on October 13, the news of Fazal doing a biopic in Hollywood started doing the rounds.

Talking about his second Hollywood project, Fazal, who’ll also be seen in Fukrey Returns, the sequel to the Bollywood comic caper Fukrey (2013), says, “I don’t want to jeopardise anything till the time an official announcement is made. But I am the first one on board. I can’t talk much about it until I sign the project.”

The actor, who shared screen space with Hollywood veteran Judi Dench in Victoria & Abdul, is being represented by a Hollywood talent agency. Clearly, Fazal is taking his Hollywood career seriously.

But he is committed to the projects he’s doing in India. “I will have to finish my work here in India first,” says Fazal, who is shooting in Varanasi for a web series, titled Mirzapur.

He adds, “I just have to be true to both the sides. I’m not abandoning India; I will never do that. It’s a lovely time for India also. This is home. But I’ve just started my career in Hollywood and I’ll have to give it that much time and strength and see how it goes [from here]. I have a good team behind it all.”

In Bollywood, besides Fukrey, the actor has been a part of films such as 3 Idiots (2009), Always Kabhie Kabhie (2011), and Happy Bhag Jayegi (2016).

Does he fear that his attention on the West can affect the popularity he has built up here in India? “Not at all,” says Fazal. “It depends on how you manage it. My work is the same there and here. It’s just a matter of balancing it. I will be where good cinema is, and right now, Bollywood and Hollywood have their good work going on.”