One of the Malayalam megastar Mammootty’s most magnificent performances, and a rare foray into Hindi cinema was the film Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar in 2000,directed by Jabbar Patel the avant-garde director of such seminal neo-classics in Marathi as ‘Samna’, ‘Sinhasan’, ‘Umbartha’ and ‘Jait Re Jait’.
Speaking to me on the honour of playing Dr Ambedkar, Mammootty in an interview conducted in the year 2000 said, “That was in English and dubbed into Hindi. But yes ,we can call it my fourth Hindi film. You think I did a good job of playing Dr Ambedkar without imitating him? How could I imitate him when I never met him? I had only heard of him. I would say this was an entirely imaginary interpretation of the great man. I could only portray him the way I thought he should be. There were lots of restrictions in playing Dr Ambedkar. Since he was a much-revered real life character I had to play him correctly. But to play the character in Shafaq I can really let myself go. I have no borders, no limitations in interpreting the character. I can do this as I like it.”
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This ambitious biopic didn’t do well. But Mammootty was undeterred.
“It’s all part of the game. My job as an actor is over on the last day of shooting. I can’t interfere in other people’s jobs when they take over a film. But yes, the film took a lot of my time effort and energy. I should even say my money. I let go of so many projects because of this film. But I suppose it was worthwhile. It’s because of Dr Ambedkar that a person like you is talking to me. The fact that I could touch the hearts of so many people who worship Dr Ambedkar and that I could break the ice with the Hindi film industry, is compensation enough. I’ve my own way of looking at my projects. They may or may not click. But I’ve no regrets. And let’s not forget Dr Ambedkar fetched me my third National award,” Mammootty shared.
