Best-known for his performance in his debut movie, Malaal (2019), Meezaan Jafri’s entry into the film industry has not been the most glamorous.
In a recent interview with Bollywood Bubble, the 28-years-old actor talked about his upcoming film Yaariyan 2, his projects so far and his father, Javed Jaffrey’s roller coaster ride in the industry.
Meezaan Jafri’s upcoming film: Yaariyan 2
The coming-of-age romantic drama, Yaariyan 2, revolves around the relationship of three cousins who navigate through life’s difficulties together. The film is releasing on October 20th this year.
In his interview, Meezan shared that he connects with the movie’s story as his relationship with his cousins has always been strong. He shared an instance in which his cousins practically saved his life after he had an asthma attack as a child.
For those who don’t know, the actor’s grandfather, Jagdeep, was a big part of the film industry as well. The veteran actor appeared in over 400 films and married thrice. He had two sons with his second wife Sughra Begum; Javed and Naved Jaffrey.
Meezaan Jafri on his projects so far
Meezaan has appeared in three films till now: Malaal (2019), Yugantar and Hungama 2 (2021). The actor shared that although none of them have been commercially successful, he is happy with his performance in them. “Whether the film works or not is not in your hands because there’s a lot of things that go into making a film, a lot of people go into making it”, he said.
The actor added that his job as an actor is to perform the best that he can and that is what he focuses on doing. The actor has received positive feedback on his performances and was nominated for the best male debut awards at the Zee Cine Awards and Filmfare Awards.
The film, Malaal, received its cult status only after it was released on Netflix, Meezaan shared.
Meezaan Jafri’s work as an assistant director
Like many other actors in the industry, Meezaan started out as an Assistant Director. However, unlike any other actor in the industry, he continues to go back to Assistant Directing on certain projects.
His first job in the industry was working as an Assistant Director with Sanjay Leela Bhansali on the film Padmaavat (2018). He was also the AD for Bhansali for the film Gangubai Kathiwadi (2022).
Meezaan shared that if Bhansali or any other director that he is close to calls him up to help them on their set even today, he would gladly do so. The actor shared an instance where a junior artist being shot for a scene felt uncomfortable when Meezaan helped him change into a new pair of slippers. The actor shared that the uncomfortable junior actor asked him, “sir why are you doing this”, the actor answered, “how does it matter? We need to get the shot done, that’s what’s important”.
Meezaan shared that he sees being an AD as a big learning opportunity. He looks at different actors’ ways of working and how they implement directions given by the director onto their performances.
Meezaan Jafri on Javed Jaffrey’s struggles
The 90’s generation would recognize the many avatars of Javed Jaffrey: a dancer, the voice behind Takeshi’s Castle, a judge for Boogie Woogie; Jaffery did all he could to make ends meet.
Meezaan shared that as a child he did not understand the financial struggles that his family was facing, as he was never refused money to. The actor shared that his father had to succumb to “a lot of trash opportunities” in order to afford the lifestyle that his children had grown up in.
