Ali Fazal’s filmography highlights a variety of roles and the actor likes it that way. “It is not about consciously trying to do different films; it is about reinventing myself. I get bored of myself very easily,” he says. The actor will soon be seen in a psychological thriller, The Underbug, which was shot in eight days during the Covid-19 lockdown with a 20-member crew. The movie has been selected for the 2023 Slamdance Film Festival, USA.

Fazal agrees that the weight of a film does increase if it makes it to a film festival, which wasn’t the case until a few years ago. “Just five years back people [from the industry and audiences] would brush-off a film like this, saying, ‘Arey festival film hai. Mainstream kab aa rahi hai? Theatrical batao na’,” says the Death On The Nile (2022) actor.

He adds, “That s**t is gone now, because suddenly, people are realising that the world has become smaller. Everything is viewed everywhere, so you cannot sit back and wait only for a theatrical release.”

The 36-year-old says he doesn’t like to take on similar roles, even if that means missing out on a major opportunity: “Sometimes, I have lost out on big projects because I felt I was doing the same thing. I know I have been selfish. Log kehte bhi hain, ‘Tum apne pair pe kulhadi maar rahe ho’.”

Fazal is looking forward to multiple releases this year, including Fukrey 3, Mirzapur 3 and his Hollywood film, Kandahar, co-starring actor Gerard Butler.