Actor Ali Fazal has stepped into a police uniform for the first time in filmmaker Prosit Roy’s latest crime thriller Raakh, inspired by the infamous 1978 Ranga-Billa case. The actor says playing Sub-Inspector Jayprakash Jatav was a gradual process that took time to find its rhythm.

“It’s a cop role, vardi hai, which was a great lead-up because I kept asking, ‘Costume trial kab hoga?’ Then the first day arrived and I realised, ‘Fit nahin aa raha… Maybe Prosit won’t like this’. It’s been a slow and steady puzzle arriving at it,” Fazal tells us during a visit to Delhi.

While Raakh sees him explore new territory, Fazal’s next outing will bring him back to familiar ground as he reprises his fan-favourite role of Guddu Pandit in Mirzapur: The Movie. Asked to compare the two characters, he says, “Guddu has a very flamboyant world. Everybody’s right in their own story. I just finished the Mirzapur film, and it’s another kind of a thrill.”

Fazal is also among the few Indian actors who have successfully built an international portfolio, with projects such as Victoria & Abdul (2017), Death on the Nile (2022) and Kandahar (2023) to his credit. 

Asked for advice for actors hoping to break into Hollywood, he says, “It works differently from India. Don’t be shy of giving auditions. It’s one of the most humbling experiences. A lot of actors have this misconception that they’ll go there, find an agency and life will start. It’s actually the other way around. You have to get through auditions, land one part and then the agencies come to you.”