Actor Manu Rishi Chadha, who plays former Pakistani president General Pervez Musharraf in Operation Safed Sagar, says the role has brought him both hate and appreciation.

“My social media DMs are flooded. Someone wrote that he wants to slap me for the act and hug me for my work. I was like… please don’t slap, as if others too feel the same, it will be too much (laughs). I feel the hate is also love which means the work was appreciated,” he tells us. Chadha says he expected strong reactions to his portrayal of Musharraf during the 1999 Kargil War. “There is one common message I am getting: Manu bhai jitni nafrat thi (Musharraf) woh double ho gaya par aapse pyar ho gaya! I want ki woh nafrat bani rahe.”

For the role, he deliberately stayed away from too many archival references: “I just saw 1-2 videos, but then I decided not to; otherwise it would become caricaturish. My first question was, ‘How do I look like him?’ Also, hero ki duniya mein villain banna, and that too a real person, was a challenge.”

A chat with Nawazuddin Siddiqui helped him find his approach. “I asked him how he played (Saadat Hasan) Manto in the film and he was like, there was no reference of him except his photo and work. So, he created and worked on his human side — right or wrong! So, I decided that I will just follow my director and creators’ vision.”

Chadha says the challenge was to inhabit the character without slipping into mimicry. “Kahin mimic na ho jaye — yeh darr bhi rakha aur jimmedari bhi rakhi! As an Indian, I can hate him but as an actor, I can’t!” he ends.