Exclusive! Zara Hatke Zara Bachke's Inaamulhaq: Comedy is my strength, but I didn't do it for fear of being typecast

Actor Inaamulhaq, who is known for starring in films like Firaaq, Filmistaan, and Airlift, explored a comical role in Zara Hatke Zara Bachke (ZHZB), which has Vicky Kaushal and Sara Ali Khan in lead roles.

The actor is seeing a big theatrical release after a gap of three years; the last one was Pagalpanti. He says that with every film of his that releases in theatres, people ask him if it is his comeback, wondering why he disappeared in between.

When OTTplay asked him why he is not as visible as his contemporaries, Inaamulhaq said, "Every theatrical release of mine feels like a comeback film. In the past three years, I have done very selective work. We were hit by the pandemic, and I was also going through a tough time. I did the web series Maharani, which was released on SonyLiv. When it comes to films, in the last two years I shot for Zara Hatke Zara Bachke and Pippa. The first film has been released, and hopefully Raja Menon's film will also be released soon."

ZHZB is a comedy-drama set in a small town that revolves around a young married couple who are on the verge of divorce. 

Asked why he did not explore the comedy genre before this film, the actor replied, "ZHZB is a comedy film, and so far, I made sure that I explored everything else before I tried my hand at comedy. In each film I made, be it Jolly LLB 2, Airlift, or Nakkash, the worlds that the stories are set in were very different. I purposely did this because I know that comedy is my strength and I can do it quite effortlessly. But in the film industry, actors get typecast all the time. So, I thought if I started my career with comedy roles, I might not be able to bag serious and intense performance-oriented roles. And that is why I have done a comedy film after all these years."

Zara Hatke Zara Bachke is directed by Laxman Utekar and also stars Sushmita Mukherjee, Neeraj Sood, Rakesh Bedi, Sharib Hashmi, and Akash Khurana.

It is currently playing in theatres.