Ali Fazal is one of the biggest names in Bollywood at the moment.
The 32-year-old has managed to bridge the gap from India to the rest of the world, starring in Fukrey, Victoria & Abdul, and a cameo on Fast & Furious 7 over the last few years.
And his hard work has paid off, as he bagged a lead role in new Amazon Prime Video series, Mirzapur, focusing on the criminal underbelly in the city.
But the actor revealed it has been a lot of hard work to get to this point, especially after a producer once called him unslottable.
Which is kind of rude…
Speaking exclusively to Metro.co.uk, he revealed how happy he was to prove that person wrong, explaining: They had a problem placing me… I would end up doing a commercial Bollywood film, then I would do something that is totally not commercial, then I would do a Hindi film, a Hollywood film.
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Im really happy to be in that wagon of actors that are allowed to experiment with roles! [The producer] said he didnt know if people could put money behind me! Its turned out that I didnt need to change.
Thats a true story from about four years ago!
Fans can next see Ali in crime thriller Mirzapur, which focuses on gangsters and their rise and fall within a kingdom in India.
And he revealed even close friends were left shocked by the transformation he underwent for the series, joking he was truly unrecognisable – both inside and out.
He told us: This morning a friend called me, he said: “Listen, I cant see you anywhere in the trailer.” I said, “Thats me, the guy with the hair…” I had to describe myself to him!
It was quite bizarre that I got involved in something like that, Ive never done anything even close. I had to change the way I looked, theres a lot of bodybuilding involved. I looked very different!
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As much as I loved the show, the filming, the journey and the experience… Those points were hard because we would be filming long hours and then I would train for three hours.
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I was running on very low sleep for like a month and a half, I was cranky, I still meet my crew and apologise for my actions. I hope I wasnt nasty!
Were sure you were as lovely as ever, Ali!
Mirzapur is available to stream now on Amazon Prime Video.
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