30-year-old Bilal Hossein Muhammad, once a struggling actor from Sopore, a district of Jammu and Kashmir, has managed to bag the role of a “thug” in Yash Raj Films’ production Thugs Of Hindostan, which features Aamir Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, Katrina Kaif and Fatima Sana Shaikh in the lead roles.
A decade-long struggle for the actor has finally paid off. Though his height and good looks gave him an advantage, his strong Kashmiri accent made it difficult to find a foothold in Bollywood.
However, a determined Bilal made his way from his native village in Saidapora to Bollywood. Initially, he tried his luck in film institutes in Noida and Pune, but met with hard luck.
“I had no idea about filmmaking, I just didn’t know where to start. Somewhere, the fees were too high. Sometimes, I missed filling the form and in one case, I didn’t qualify. That’s when I decided to go to Mumbai,” he says.
The turning point for Bilal was getting an Aamir Khan scholarship. Bilal took a gamble, and in eight years from 2010, the passion has paid off. “I never thought I could be acting with Aamir Khan, but here I am, in this film. I may not have a very significant role, but I play a role from start to finish in key action sequences,” he says.
Post 2010, Bilal went home, after facing disappointment. Against the wishes of his parents, Bilal was adamant that he wanted to make an impression in Bollywood. His father, an apple farmer, advised his son to get a job instead of chasing his Bollywood dreams. But his passion kept him going.
Bilal says though he could not be associated with a film like Vishal Bhardwaj’s Haider, which was set in the backdrop of Kashmir, he is not giving up.
No Kashmiri has made it significantly big in the Bollywood scene, though singer Qazi Touqeer was briefly seen in films after winning the reality show Fame Gurukul in 2005. Bilal hopes that he can climb up the ladder in Bollywood and has his fingers crossed for the same.
