Actor Shafeeq Mustafa delivers a chilling portrayal of a callous LTTE operative named Sivarasan, who masterminds the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, in creator Nagesh Kukunoor's recent SonyLIV series The Hunt. Shafeeq hails from Shoranur, Palakkad, and the role in the series is alien to him. It required him to deliver his lines in Sri Lankan Tamil and embody the traits of the LTTE agent. This was one of the many challenges the actor faced at the time of production for The Hunt. In an exclusive conversation with CE, Shafeeq says, “I knew the basics of the case. Sri Lankan Tamil and Malayalam are somewhat similar, plus I had a language trainer on set, which made the challenge manageable. Further, I did a lot of research to gain a broader understanding of the subject and portray the role as authentically as possible.”
Speaking of research, for an actor, delving deep into the unique aspects of a role can lead to a tendency to judge the character, especially if he is an LTTE leader. However, Shafeeq reveals that he only considered channelling the emotions of Sivarasan rather delving into LTTE ideologies. “I am just an actor portraying a character. Their ideologies do not concern me, and I am no one to judge them. I only tried to walk the same path as Sivarasan. At the end of the day, these are people who have had deeply emotional journeys.” This detachment helped prevent the role from emotionally impacting him. “I never take my characters wherever I go. I believe that is what acting is all about. I applied this principle to my portrayal of Sivarasan as well. Playing Sivarasan has been the biggest opportunity so far in my career, and I only considered making the most of it.”
The actor used a contact lens with makeup on top of it for the so-called "One-Eyed" LTTE agent. “Wearing it becomes irritating after a point, but that is also part of the job,” admits Shafeeq with a smile. Interestingly, he brought a certain flair to the character with a peculiar gait and mannerisms. “I moulded all of that because there is not a lot of information available about Sivarasan except for heresy. There is no video evidence of the man, and we could only find a photograph of him.”
However, Shafeeq’s research led him to a revelation about Sivarasan that helped him portray the character in a unique way. “Sivarasan seems like a very intelligent man, and he is strong. Therefore, I decided very early on that he does not have to be very talkative and could rather be reticent.”
As with many similar projects, part of what makes The Hunt compelling is its depiction of LTTE officers as ordinary people, ensuring that it never becomes simplistic or stereotypical. For example, we see Sivarasan watching a Rajinikanth film in a theatre or grooming his hair. Talking about the humanisation of the character, Shafeeq explains, “In real life, too, such people go about their business as ordinary folks. The screenplay helped a lot in rooting the character in ground reality. Moreover, Nagesh sir constantly guided me, correcting me whenever I might have erred, thus ensuring authenticity.”
The response to the series and Shafeeq's character suggests that all his hard work has paid off. “Kerala Crime Files director Ahammed Khabeer called me and commended my performance. Many others related to cinema also shared good feedback about it. So I am grateful for all that,” reveals Shafeeq. However, the actor is not easily swayed by all the appreciation. “When I watched it, I only saw my mistakes,” he admits candidly.
The Hunt marks Shafeeq’s second project as an actor. He made his debut with a minor role in Ayyappanum Koshiyum as one of the fighters for Prithviraj Sukumaran’s Koshi. While the role is small, Shafeeq says that he underwent an audition to get it. “I consider it a privilege to be able to go through an audition and work with Sachy sir,” shares the actor as he looks back at his journey with gratitude and much reverence for the late filmmaker.
Shafeeq hails from a theatre background and has experience assisting in multiple technical departments in films, such as direction, camera, sound and editing. “I came into acting with a lot of passion. I used to do plays at school, district and municipal levels. I have no institutional knowledge, so I assisted other technicians to gain an understanding of cinema.”
Like Sivarasan, even Shafeeq is on a chase; only, here, it is a chase to glory in cinema—a pursuit that has been fortified with The Hunt.
The series offers a compelling look at the events following Rajiv Gandhi's assassination. It also stars Amit Sial, Bagavathi Perumal, Sahil Vaid, and Danish Iqbal as the investigators on the hunt for Shafeeq's Sivarasan.