Indian actor Ali Fazal became one of the biggest names in the country’s entertainment industry to work with Hollywood stars including Dame Judi Dench in Victoria & Abdul, Vin Diesel in Furious 7, and Gerard Butler in the action thriller Kandahar. Yet, the actor said his most memorable moment was when he came face-to-face with Al Pacino.
Terming Pacino his cinematic idol, Fazal admitted that he was awestruck upon meeting the Hollywood icon.
After years of admiring the actor, Fazal found himself living a scene straight out of a movie while in London shooting for Death on the Nile.
The actor shared that he was in the United Kingdom when there was a premiere for The Irishman. Fazal said he mixed up the dates and realised 20 minutes before the premiere opened, running to the event. “I couldn’t get a cab but luckily, it was in the vicinity. I wore my suit, and I ran,” the actor said. Making it to the venue in time, Fazal stated, “I went straight to the bar because I needed water. I stop there, I turn to my right, and he’s [Pacino’s] right in front of me. He’s just looking at me, smiling.”
The actor added that the interaction was the first time he had truly been starstruck by someone. “When you’re working with somebody, it’s fine, it’s enriching. It’s like, ‘This is me, and I take whatever you’re going to give.’ But here, I wasn’t working with him. I was just a fan,” Fazal said.
He further noted that he spoke to Pacino, discussing his theatre work. Sharing the Hollywood star’s reaction, Fazal said, “He was like, ‘Oh!’ because he’s also very big on theatre. He’s always been a big champion of Shakespeare and has a big body of work apart from the cinema he does.”
Joking that he’s like an encyclopedia on Pacino and would answer every question about him during trivia games with friends, Fazal said, “I used to talk about all the things that he had gone through, like the number of auditions Pacino had done for The Godfather. I was really obsessed with him.”
Recently, Fazal featured in the investigative crime thriller series Raakh. In the eight-episode drama, he plays Sub-Inspector Jayprakash, a police officer investigating the disappearance and murder of two teenagers in 1978 Delhi.