Taha Shah Badussha on life before 'Heeramandi': 'Kuch mahine pehle main aik option bhi nahi tha kisi ke zehen mein ki main ye role kar sakta hoon'

Taha Shah

Taha Shah Badussha, who is the current national crush of India after his appearance as Nawaz Tajdar Baloch in the hit series 'Heeramandi', spoke about how his life has changed since its release.

In a free-wheeling chat with moneycontrol.com, Taha spoke his heart out. While we began our chat with the obvious question of how has life been post-'Heeramandi', the actor went on to divulge many details about his life and work post-the show.

Taha Shah

Taha said he is getting the love of all the dads, moms, and grandparents as well. So this is a big achievement for him as an actor.

"Just the way I wanted, very busy bahut hi pyar mil raha hai Jo Pehle kabhi nahi mila tha. As you rightly said, lots of moms, dads, and grandparents are sending their love and blessings. Main hamesha se ye hi chahta tha kyunki duyaien aur ashirwad ke saath hi journey safal rehti hai. With youth and boys and girls, sending their love and admiration is of course a big thing, but when parents send it, it's a different ball game together. I am valuing every moment that is passing by," he said with a broad smile on his face.

When asked further about what the difference is between life now and how it was a month before that, Taha said, 'Kuch mahine pehle tak mujhe koi call nahi ata tha."

"A few months ago, koi mujhe called nahi karta tha. Kuch mahine pehle main aik option bhi nahi tha. Unke zehen mein ki main ye role kar sakta hoon ya woh mujhe uss role ke liye cast karein. So, when I look at the past and now, I am getting so many calls from directors and producers. Casting directors are calling me, and they are asking me to come and meet them. They are offering me very good projects now. A few months ago, to be honest, I knew I was doing 'Heeramandi' and all that, but aisa response ayega ye mujhe nahi pata tha. Mujhe sirf ye hi tha ki log mujhe aik achcha actor maan lein toh mujhe aur achcha kaam mil jayega. Par aisa pyar milega, and supposedly you become this national crush, and everything ye sab main nahi janta tha," he added.

Taha has been keeping busy with work and giving multiple interviews, but he is not tired and feels that all this is worth it. He also spoke about how he is being called Brand Taha now.

"This is very new to me. But yes, lots of things have changed, and lots of people are approaching me about getting associated with different brands. People are calling Taha has become a brand now and how to run brand Taha. These words are new to me, and now I need to have a role manager, a business manager. Ye sare new terminologies, mujhe seekhne ko mil rahe hai," he said.

And he gives entire credit to his mom for all the success. Taha said it was his mother who has been there with him and always supported his career.

"It is something I have desired for a very long time. My mom is a major player in this, and I have to give credit to her. My mom has always stood behind, and a huge thanks to Netflix and, of course, the greatest man we all know, Mr. Sanjay Leela Bhansali," said Taha.

Taha spoke about how his support system has been his parents—his father, who is an orthopedician and keeps telling him to stay grounded and not take the success to his head.

Talking about the director, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Taha was all praise for the noted director. He said that now, with the success of this series and his life taking a 360-degree turn after its release, he can rightly say that Mr. Bhansali can make a career.

On being asked how he landed the lead role of Tajdar, the young actor says initially he was offered a small role that was to end in three days, but it got extended to 30 days, and he was supposed to play Balraj, but Mr. Bhansali called him again and said he wanted to offer him the lead role of Tajdar Baloch.

"So let's start with how I landed the role. Toh ye aik log luck bolte hai, but main khud nahi jatna main isko kya kahoon. It is Sanjay Leela Bhansali's blessing because many people had come for this role and wanted to do it. And from all the big names who had a very good market and mera market, ka M bhi nahi tha aur un sab mein se, he chose me. Ye unka badapann hoga, and now we know he is the person who makes stars and people's careers. I landed a three-day role, and from that, he increased my role to Balraj, a 30-day role. After Balraj, he saw my look tests again, and he called me back. I thought he had called me back to throw me out of the series," he said.

Further explaining how he was offered Tajdar, Taha added: "Life mein hamesha hi aisa hua hai jab bhi kuch achcha hota toh kuch gadbad ho jata hai. Isliye main khush nahi hua. I went back to him, and without him even saying anything to me, Maine unke pair pakad liye, and kaha sir mujhe nikalna matt, ye meri life ki sabse badi opportunity hai. He asked me to sit bade pyar se and said beta baith. Maine tera look test dekha aur teri ankhon mein kuch hai, and I want you to be my lead, Tajdar Baloch. So wahan se mujhe samajh nahi aa raha tha and main ghoor raha tha. Kuch toh gadbad hai. Finally, I realized that he was offering me the lead role, and it didn't make any sense to me at all. So that's how I landed Tajdar's role. It was very unfathomable and quite unpredictable. Just luck, I guess."

Actress Richa Chaddha had recently made an appearance with the women of Heeramandi on 'The Great Indian Kapil Show', where she revealed she had to give 99 retskes to this. Taha said, laughing, "I wasn't lucky enough to touch that number."

"Richa must have been lucky enough, but I wasn't lucky enough to touch that number. Mujhe pehle 2-4 days when we were shooting the Mushaira scene toh mujhe max-to-max 2-3 retakes diye they. Toh main toh sochta tha bhai mujhe pehle hi take mein theek karna hai bhai nahi toh mujhe retake nahi diya jayega. Main toh jaldi jaldi poora apna bhi institute se padha hai main sara knowledge dal diya. Maine socha sab dal do jitna bhi hai. Kuch na Kuch toh unko pasand aa jjayega. So the maximum number of retakes I was given must have been about 14–15. But mostly when they put the camera on me solo, then max to max, it would have been about 4 or 5," he added. I have given only 2-3 retakes, and I wanted to do things perfectly or else I could have been shown the door. So I was very particular and couldn't take things easy.

Taha has just returned from the Cannes Film Festival and is overwhelmed with the love he has been receiving. He also said that he is looking forward to meeting the Heeramandi gang soon.

"I wasn't able to meet the gang. We are going to have a get-together soon. Inshallah, hamari mulaqat hogi. Postt-Heeramandi they have become really busy," he said.

Taha wants to work on a Bollywood film next and says he will make sure that his next project is a Bollywood film on the silver screen.

"Hum sabki koshish ye hi hai. That is always going to be my first love, and the next project I do will hopefully be a film. To be very honest, OTT is the future. OTT platforms are such that they can take you to millions and millions of people. It gets dubbed in so many languages. You reach out to so many people. So I believe I love to balance it out. But, of course, to be honest, films are my first choice, and I will always keep doing films if thats the option," he ended.

Heeramandi, directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali, is being loved by all and is doing well since it started streaming on Netflix.