Adil Hussain on winning Best Actor award at SAFF for Raahgir: Awards play critical role for such films

He is no stranger to awards, and Adil Hussain has scored yet another win. He has been awarded Best Actor Male at Washington DC South Asian Film Festival, for his performance in the film Raahgir.

He reveals that the news was given to him by his film’s producer. “He had been in touch with the authorities at SAFF. It was a delight! We got not just one, but four awards including mine. It always feels good when all of us win,” exclaims the actor.

The 57-year-old adds, “Otherwise, when only you win, it feels like the rest of your team was left out. This was a great joy for the entire team. In fact, I messaged my producer saying ‘you should have won the award for the Best Producer as well! (laughs) I don’t think there’s an award for that.”

On a serious note, Hussain looks forward to awards for a much more important reason, and that’s the buzz it creates around small films. “Generally, for films like these, the producers do not have a lot of budgets to put it out there, to let people know there is a film like this. When a subject like this is being made into a film, people are not so enthusiastic, unless they have heard about it,” feels the actor.

Another small film which got noticed due to international acclaim, featuring Hussain yet again, was Pareeksha. He won Best Actor at the Indo-German Film Week 2020, Berlin for it. “After such wins, people at least think ‘oh this film has gone to that festival’, or when an award is being conferred, then it becomes a validation, that okay, whatever the producers and actors have been claiming, is true. After awards, it becomes officially recognised, that it is a good film , and one should watch it in theatres or OTT platforms,” admits the actor.