Is there anything that Saba Azad can’t do? She sings, she acts, she does theatre, she wants to direct and she’s also a trained dancer. While she enjoys dipping her fingers in the pie, Saba maintains that she is socially awkward and doesn’t love the idea of cameras following her.
Following the release of her recent ZEE5 show Crime Beat, the quirky and chirpy actress spoke about things dear to her, playing a journalist named Maya in Crime Beat, being unabashedly real about the lesser opportunities coming her way and a surprise role we will see her play very soon. In an exclusive conversation, Saba Azad let her guard down and told us about her favourite places in Delhi and her favourite things to eat when she’s in ‘Dilli’.
Here are the edited excerpts of our chat:
Q: Saba, you play a journalist in ZEE5’s Crime Beat. What was the experience like?
A: It was a no brainer for me to say yes to the project. I was told it’s a Sudhir Mishra show and was based on a novel. I read the novel, I read the script and I knew I was doing it.
As for the role, I know it’s set in the world of journalism, but the idea was to get inside the character, no matter what profession she was inhabiting – her emotions, her trials and tribulations. It was more about finding the human in the character. It just so happens that she was a journalist. She could have been in a corporate world. She could have been anywhere else. What really helped was how the script was very clear about what it required of the character.
Playing a journalist in new OTT show
Q: Who is Maya according to you?
A: I think Maya is an extremely passionate and a driven girl who comes from privilege. She wants to prove herself as a journalist and wants to be a part of the crime beat and do investigative journalism. Her struggle, her arc is basically her trying to prove herself worthy and be like, ‘Look, take me seriously. I’m trained for this. I’ve studied investigative journalism. I know I come from privilege and that’s why you put me in lifestyle but what I really want to do is this’. How she finds a way into crime beat is her journey.
What I like the most about Maya is that her moral compass is very centered. So, it’s not like she wants to achieve anything at the cost of letting go of her morality. She wants to succeed, but not at the cost of other people or at the cost of letting go of her morals. I think that’s very interesting and rare, perhaps in the world of journalism as we speak now.
Q: Was Maya’s character rooted from Saba’s character in real life?
A: Absolutely. I think because I have grown up around journalists – my parents, friends, a lot of them are journalists. I have sort of seen that world and my understanding of journalism from when I was a kid was that most journalists who hold the strength to speak truth to power usually lean towards socialism in general. I added a bit of a socialist angle to Maya. Although she comes from privilege, she’s nearly almost embarrassed of it because she’s like, ‘Listen, I know my father may have money, but I want to prove myself and I can go to the grittiest areas in the city and get the story I need to. I am not privileged. My father has money. I don’t. I’m working for my bread’. So there was some kind of merit to this character, which was very attractive to me.
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Q: What’s your relationship with co-star Saqib Saleem like?
A: You know when you start your career with some people, you’re always rooting for them. When I first worked with Saqib, it was my second film and his first – Mujhse Fraaandship Karoge. We were kids back then. This was 14 years ago. Moving forward we might not have been in touch on a daily basis but we’ve crossed paths many times. Whenever we would meet, it would be like old times.
Saba on not being covered in scripts
Q: Why are you so selective about your roles? Why don’t we see you very often on the big screen?
A: In all honesty, you pick from what you’re offered. I’m an actor, not a producer or a director. I hope to be a director someday but as of now, I am at the mercy of someone else’s imagination. It’s not like I had a plethora of scripts to choose from, if I were entirely honest. So from the ones that came my way, I tried to pick the ones that challenged me as an actor and kind of made me do different things. So whether it was Rocket Boys, which you know was a period story and a biopic or, Who’s Your Gyneac, where I got to sink my teeth into comedy and kind of lighthearted drama. Whether it was something gritty like this, I try to do something different each time. But honestly, I’m not covered in scripts.
Q: What’s something that people don’t know about you Saba?
A: I am a trained dancer and I have been dancing professionally for almost a decade. I trained in Indian classical. I did Odissi. I trained for around 14 years after which I trained in Jazz and Ballet and then I taught for a while as well. I was part of many dance companies and we travelled too.
Q: I feel you’ll do really well in a biopic on a singer since you can sing your own songs too. Would you be open to that if given a chance?
A: You know, it’s funny you mentioned that because I have just done a film about an artist, a musician and it should hopefully release sometime this year. It’s about this singer called Raj Begum, who was a legendary singer from Kashmir. This was at a time when women weren’t allowed to sing on the radio. She was the first female singer on Radio Kashmir and it’s her story.
Saba on constant vigil on her life
Q: You’ve always been vocal about the press breaching your privacy at times and not drawing a line when they should. Do you feel maybe they’re just trying to do their job and these are just perils of the profession?
A: I think I can only speak for myself. I don’t think I want to speak for other people. I think I’m a fairly private person and if I might add, a very awkward person socially. So I guard my privacy with my life. I think when you’re choosing to be a performer, you are actually putting yourself out into the world. So I think this comes with the territory. And at the end of the day, if I were to be honest and mildly empathetic I would say that that person is also trying to make their living. They are also trying to find a story to get eyeballs.
Many actors are comfortable being in the public eye. I am still warming up to it. I think I’m slightly better than I was when I started but by and large, I am a pretty awkward person. So I try to keep to myself but its actually to each their own.
Q: Saba you performed in Delhi recently. When are you coming back next? What’s something you like about the city?
A: I keep coming to Delhi. I am from Delhi. I can give you a very long list of places I love here. I love food so its Purani Delhi, Jama Masjid for early morning Nihari. Then there’s Paranthe Wali Gali. There’s Ghanta Ghar’s Gulab Jamun. I love chaat. I’m obsessed with food.