Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, who plays Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s husband in Haddi, was a tough nut to crack, said the producer of the film. It was difficult for the makers to convince Ayyub to take up the role until he agreed.
Haddi, starring Siddiqui essays the role of a transgender while Ayyub plays his husband in the film, a role which has never been portrayed on screen.
One of the producers, Sanjay Saha, pointed out, “It wasn’t a normal role but a very pivotal one, as he had to portray Nawazuddin’s husband in the film. We tried to convince him a few times but he refused. But eventually, Zeeshan came back to us and said ‘let’s do it, I am getting a good feeling about it’.”
Saha strongly believes that Ayyub is a value addition to Haddi, as he said, “Working with him was a good experience since he took his part very seriously. Though it isn’t a big role in terms of screen time but it’s very important and takes the narrative ahead. Considering the sensitivity of his character, Zeeshan has performed it with a lot of dedication and acted very well, to the extent that you can actually feel the romance and chemistry between Nawazuddin and him, and that’s exactly what was required – perfect bit of that magical romance.”
The noir revenge drama also stars Anurag Kashyap in the lead role along with Ila Arun, Saurabh Sachdeva, Shridhar Dubey, Rajesh Kumar, Vipin Sharma, and Saharsh Shukla in supporting roles.
Produced by Zee Studios, Sanjay Saha and Raadhika Nanda and directed by Akshat Ajay Sharma, Haddi will drop on ZEE5 on September 7.