"Nawaz was lying in my lap listening because he had just come from the hospital"- Ila Arun on 'Haddi' memories

The Nawazuddin Siddiqui starrer Haddi went on to mark its release on Zee5 a couple of days ago, and even though the Jawan wave is what everyone is bamboozled by, Haddi is gradually finding its audience on the streaming platform.

Apart from Nawaz, the film also stars legends like Anurag Kashyap and Ila Arun playing pivotal characters. And, in an exclusive conversation, Arun opened up on multiple things, including a memorable moment from Haddi and about sharing screen space with the aforementioned legends. 

Tell us about your most memorable moment from the sets of Haddi.

My most memorable moment in Haddi was when I narrated a beautiful mythological story to Nawaz and three more transgenders. Nawaz was lying in my lap listening because he had recently come from the hospital. He was listening, and I was narrating the story to the camera. Nawaz's reaction to the story and the emotional camaraderie between us is the highlight of the film and of my character. That was the moment I cherished the most; other scenes are more like nightmares. It was a nightmare to work under those difficult situations in such heavy makeup. Hats off to Nawaz, who used to take 6 hours to get ready with the wig, makeup, and everything else. In temperatures of 45-46 degrees, without AC, the director chose a real location that was not equipped. 

You are sharing screen space with actors like Nawazuddin Siddique, Anurag Kashyap, Mohd. Zeeshan Ayyub, and others. How was your experience working with them? Anything you would like to share about them that the readers may not know?

Zeeshan worked with me in my theatre company, ‘Surnai’, in my play ‘Peer Gynt’ and then we worked together in ‘Chhalaang’. So, there is a comfort level. He is a sincere artist, and we enjoy the chemistry and comfort between us. With Anurag, of course, it was my second film. I did ‘Ghoomketu’ with him, but we were not together on sets. This time, I worked with him and confronted him. He is a very, very cool actor as well as a director. He is not tense; he believes in improvisations. We had a fantastic scene between us. I think his chill attitude is something that Akshat has also gotten inspired from. On set, when anyone would lose their calm, Anurag made that person comfortable. I enjoyed working with all of them - Nawazuddin, Anurag, Akshat, and the other actors. I want to wish all our actors good luck for Haddi.

Haddi was released on 7th September on Zee5.