Mumbai17 minutes agoAuthor: Ashish Tiwari/Arunima Shukla
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This time in the struggle story, the story is of Panchayat's Prahlad Cha i.e. Faisal Malik.
Prahlad Cha of 'Panchayat' i.e. Faisal Malik. This name has been in the news for the last few days. Why not, he has won everyone's heart with his serious acting in the third season of 'Panchayat'. Faisal Malik, who played a few minutes' role in a film like 'Gangs of Wasseypur', needs no introduction today. However, he has not climbed the ladder of success easily. He has had to struggle a lot for this.
To know his story of struggle, we reached his house in Yari Road, Andheri West, Mumbai. When we rang the doorbell, he opened the door. We said hi-hello, he said first have breakfast and then we will do the interview. Faisal said that he was waiting for us to have breakfast together when we arrive. He made us sit at the dining table. There was so much to eat that we did not understand where to start.
I had a colleague and two cameramen with me. I had a few sandwiches and a glass of watermelon juice. We got up after about 10 minutes. The cameraman put a mike on Faisal. After 5 minutes we started the interview.
Faisal said that after coming to Mumbai, he faced the most difficulty in living and eating. He did not have money to eat. Somehow he managed to have one meal a day. He used to add lots of chilli to his food and drink many glasses of water so that he could get full with less food.
Faisal told that before coming into films, he was working as a video editor in a TV channel. He was made to work for 20 hours a day. Once, he kept working even after breaking his leg.
So let's hear Faisal's story of struggle in his own words…
I used to get beaten up by my family for watching the movie
Faisal Malik was born in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh. Talking about his childhood, Faisal said, 'Like other children, my childhood was also normal. I never thought that I would become an actor when I grow up.
Yes, I loved watching movies, but my family members did not like this habit of mine at all. That is why I used to watch movies secretly. Many times I was caught stealing and was beaten up a lot. Even after getting beaten up many times, I did not stop watching movies.
Faisal wanted to go to Mumbai and become an actor even before completing his graduation (B.Sc), but his family was against his decision. There was a lot of debate with the family about this matter. Then in this condition, his elder brother supported him and sent Faisal to his friend's place in Mumbai. Later his mother and father also started supporting him.
After reaching Mumbai I realised what struggle is
Talking about this journey, Faisal says, 'I came to Mumbai at the age of 22. I used to stay at my brother's friend's house in BKC (an area of Mumbai). Initially, everyone thinks that after coming to Mumbai, one will become the megastar Amitabh Bachchan. However, after living here, the reality is revealed.
After reaching Mumbai, I started doing an acting course at Kishore Namit Kapoor Acting Institute. However, after 3 months, I realized that this seemingly easy job is not at all easy. I had to make arrangements for everything from fees to accommodation and food. It did not seem right to ask for more money from home. That is why I decided to do some work.
The first salary was just Rs 700 per month
Faisal told that when he came to Mumbai, his father used to send him monthly expenses, but the expenses in Mumbai were much higher than in Allahabad. He did not want to be a burden on his father for a long time, so he started earning.
He said, 'First of all I worked as a tape login in Sahara India which is usually done by interns. Here I got the lowest level job. During this job I had to work hard for hours to extract certain kind of visuals from hundreds of video tapes. Then after some time I started learning editing with the help of a friend at night. I learned the whole work in 2-3 months. One day I cut a promo myself, edited it and showed it to sir. He was very happy to see my work and instead of pasting tapes I got the job of cutting promos.
Talking about my first salary, I used to get Rs 700 per month, then Rs 1300 and later I started getting Rs 3200 per month. After working in Sahara, I also worked in Zee Cinema and Star One.
When he broke his leg after falling from 20 feet
Faisal told that he was very passionate about his work. So much so that he used to work in the office for 5-6 days continuously. One day his passion proved to be fatal for him. This happened when he was working as an associate producer in a project. Here he had to work for 20-20 hours.
One day he was working continuously for many hours. Then he went to a height of 20 feet and started watching the scene on camera. He did not even realize that he was 20 feet above and suddenly fell down. His leg also broke in this accident. However, he did not let it affect his work. After going to the hospital and getting plastered, he again went to edit at night.
Faisal also has his own production company. Under this, he has produced films like Revolver Rani, Saat Uchakke.
Many nights were spent without food, had to sleep on the road and station too
Like other strugglers, Faisal also faced problems in getting food and accommodation in Mumbai. He said, 'When there was shortage of money, I used to spend the whole day without eating so that I could save money. I used to eat food with chillies and drink a lot of water. By doing this, I used to get full by eating less.
I could not stay at my brother's friend's house for very long. Circumstances were such that I had to spend many nights on the road. I had to sleep at stations as well. Anyway, all these things are very important for experience.'
Was a line producer in 'Gangs of Wasseypur', got the role by luck
After joining the editing field, Faisal had never thought of going into acting, but a coincidence introduced him to acting. Faisal says, 'I was the line producer of Anurag Kashyap's film 'Gangs of Wasseypur'. A location was finalised with great difficulty for just 4 days of shooting in Allahabad.
The person who was playing the role of Inspector Gopal Singh in the film did not come on the first day of shooting. Then I was asked to do this role. At first I thought it would be a role of 1-2 scenes, so I agreed. Later I came to know that this character has a long screen space.
An interesting incident happened that day. The person who was supposed to play this role was a little thinner than me. The production team had got the uniform stitched accordingly. If another uniform was arranged immediately, the shooting would have been delayed. Out of helplessness, I somehow wore that uniform, but the pants got torn. It was stitched again, after which my shot was completed.
Faisal played the role of a police officer in the film 'Gangs of Wasseypur'. Actors like Pankaj Tripathi, Rajkumar Rao and Nawazuddin Siddiqui also appeared in this film.
Faisal told that after the film 'Gangs of Wasseypur', he used to get only the roles of a police officer. He had accepted one or two offers, but rejected most of them due to bad story. After this, Faisal was seen in 2-3 films and 4-5 series.
Had to gain a lot of weight for the role of Prahlad Cha in 'Panchayat'
Then the series 'Panchayat' fell in Faisal's lap, due to which he became famous in every household as Prahlad Cha. Faisal has left a different mark in the third season of 'Panchayat'. The character of Prahlad Cha, who was fun-loving in the last two seasons, is going to make you cry in this season.
Faisal told that the director of the series Deepak Kumar Mishra had written the character of Prahlad Cha keeping him in mind. In this way, he was the first actor to be cast for the series. The casting of all the others was done later.
To fit into this role, he has transformed his body. About this, he said, 'There was no makeup or anything. I have gained a lot of weight for the role. I used to sleep only for two hours a day. Due to the change in sleep cycle, I gained a lot of weight. I also tried using makeup etc., but it did not give that feel.'
He was broken by the death of his father in Covid
In the third season of 'Panchayat', Faisal's character is a little more serious than before. The reason is that in the second season, Faisal's on-screen son dies. About this, he says, 'Death is a bitter truth. It has to happen in everyone's life at some point or the other. My father died during Covid. My close friends also passed away.
While shooting emotional scenes in 'Panchayat', I used to think of him. Perhaps because of this, the acting felt very natural. Whatever I have done, I have done it all by myself. Whatever was coming out of me, the same was visible on screen as well.
While saying this, Faisal became a little emotional. I also saw tears in his eyes.
Faisal with his wife in the picture. Faisal told that when he was working as an editor, he met Kumud Shahi, who later became his wife. Kumud was his boss. After some time of friendship, both of them wanted to get married, but due to different religions, their families were against this relationship. However, everything became fine later.
Regarding his upcoming projects, Faisal said that he will be seen in 3-4 films and 2-3 web series. This list includes films like Jo Tera Hai Wo Mera, Sab First Class.
