Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub is focused on doing projects that speak to his heart. So, when director Akshat Ajay Sharma approached him for the ZEE5 film, Haddi, and he realized that the film was an opportunity to depict the lives of transgender people, he gave his nod.

The crime drama sees Ayyub’s character, Irfan, as the head of an NGO working for the emancipation of the transgender community. “Besides the story, what caught my eye about Haddi was that the story’s protagonist was a transgender character. The transgender people would be shown in a good light and not made fun of, like how we have done it in the past,” he said, adding that the love story of Harika—Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s character—and Irfan moved him. The intention was to give centre stage to inclusivity through the romance in the film.

“Irfan is a regular guy. To show him falling in love with a transgender person was an ace call. Suddenly, it felt [normalized]. The film speaks of an inclusive society. Just because someone identifies differently doesn’t mean you should remove them from your life,” he explains.

While the verdict on Haddi is yet to come, Ayyub continues to garner compliments for his performance in Hansal Mehta’s Netflix series, Scoop. However, he rues that, despite the appreciation, it has not translated into more work. Only Mehta, with whom he also did Shahid (2013) and Chhalaang (2020), has been putting his money where his mouth is by consistently offering him diverse work.

“He told me that if I get a good script, I should go to him, and he would find me a producer interested in making it with me. People say that I deserve more, [but] they’ve not done anything [about it]. Hansal sir, walked the talk. Post Scoop, industry folk are more respectful to me. Unfortunately, nothing has worked out. Right now, I am not working on anything, but I hope something worthy will come [my way]. People say I should have my own show,” he shares.