Even after delivering promising performances in his 12-year career, Mohd Zeeshan Ayyub prefers to approach his work like a novice. The idea, he says, is to use one’s life experiences to keep evolving as an artiste. The actor adopted the same approach in his next, Joram, which will be premiered at the 52nd International Film Festival of Rotterdam.

Ayyub says director Devashish Makhija is looking at India from a fresh gaze, through the survival thriller. “The way Devashish weaves in what he wants to say in a story [is fascinating]. Joram doesn’t have a [conventional] story, but it has powerful moments. My character belongs to an underprivileged community in Mumbai. But when he travels to remote places, he realizes that he is relatively more privileged than several others. This is communicated wonderfully in the film,” he shares.

Collaborating with Manoj Bajpayee was another incentive for Ayyub to be part of the film. Even though they don’t have many scenes together, their shared love for cinema bound them off screen. “At night after pack-up, we would sit together for dinner, and have long discussions about craft. I was like a student in front of him.”

In the months ahead, Ayyub will be seen in almost six projects, including Hansal Mehta’s web series Scoop, and Meghna Gulzar’s Sam Bahadur. At the moment, however, he is most excited about the runaway success of Shah Rukh Khan’s Pathaan.

The actor, who teamed up with Khan in Raees (2017) and Zero (2018), says, “It feels like a personal victory. People have been asking me why I am happy about the film’s success. It’s just about Shah Rukh sir getting what he deserves.”