‘She said actors should be like dogs, arranged a media assassination against me and…’ – Firstpost

Actor Muzammil Ibrahim was seen in Pooja Bhatt’s 2007 drama Dhokha. He was also a part of Neeraj Pandey’s web-series Special Ops that starred Kay Kay Menon in the central role. But why was he so selective about his choices? Or did work dry up? The actor has spilled the beans on the same.

In an interview with Hindi Rush,
Muzammil Ibrahim recalled the traumatic time on the sets of Dhokha and revealed, “I had not experienced a toxic environment before. I was not used to cuss words. It was a very traumatic experience for me. And working in that environment was even more difficult. Despite all the torture, I didn’t have any option because I was the only breadwinner of my family, after I called them all to Mumbai from Kashmir, given the instability in the region.”

He added, “I used to be extremely frustrated that I was unable to oppose that behaviour due to my responsibilities. It almost kills me to have gone through that and not being able to talk about it just because they are powerful people.”

“Only the director made me suffer. The team, however, was great. Bhatt sahab had offered me about three films after Dhokha, but because of my previous experience on set… I didn’t take up any of that,” continued the
_Special Ops_ star.

On saying no to films

When I said no to films, they tried to sabotage my image. My director (Pooja Bhatt) had arranged a media assassination against me and had shared rumours about me. She played woman card to put me down. Her attitude was that: ‘Actor should be like a dog. If I ask you to sit, you sit, if I ask you to stand, you stand.

She was very immature. I don’t know what made her behave like that, but today I am the same age as she was during the making of Dhokha, and I know that if today, I will have to deal with a 20-year-old, I will treat them with care.

The actor continued his plea and said, “They try to break the confidence of the outsider. They want us to be their sycophants, but I refused to do so. I didn’t bend, neither did I break and eventually went through the consequences. They published several articles against me to sabotage my career. They tried to create a perception against me like ‘he is hard to work with’ and ‘has attitude’. It actually worked for them.”