Zeeshan Ayyub feels he has finally ‘done something’ in 10-12 years of his career after starring in Scoop

Actor Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub opened up about his role in Hansal Mehta’s Scoop and said that under the director’s instruction, he wanted to make his character as human as possible, but not preachy. In the show, headlined by Karishma Tanna, Zeeshan played Imran Siddiqui, the principled editor of a newspaper organisation. He finally feels he has achieved something in his life with the success of the show, after being in the industry for 10-12 years. Also read: Scoop review: Hansal Mehta sets the bar high in one of the best shows of the year

Scoop

Hansal Mehta’s Scoop is inspired by journalist Jigna Vora’s memoir, Behind the Bars In Byculla: My Days in Prison. It was released on May 14, 2023, on Netflix. It follows the story of a star crime reporter, Jagruti Pathak (Karishma Tanna), at a Mumbai newspaper who makes news after she is accused of aiding the murder of her rival Jaideb Sen (Prosenjit Chatterjee). While the world questions her, she finds support in her level-headed, soft-spoken editor Imran who believes she is innocent until proven guilty.

Zeeshan Ayyub on working in Scoop

Talking about the show, Zeeshan revealed while Jagruti Pathak is the centre of the story, his character Imran represents everything the show tried to convey.”Hansal told me just one thing: You have to make him human. Someone talking about truth and honesty and not sounding boring… Making him human was the biggest task. Hansal said, ‘He should look human and feel like someone you know. Then only we will get through what he is saying and that would be the big reason for the success of the show’,” Zeeshan told PTI.

“The fear was that… people start thinking, ‘Arrey yaar, ye gyan de raha hai’ (he is preachy). That’s a problem because as a society our attention span is short. We like small things and someone trying to make you understand something, it becomes difficult in these times. There is so much noise around… Everyone is shouting, has their opinions, agendas and propagandas… In the middle of that noise, there is this one person who is calm and talks sense, and talks about something that our conditioning has given us, at least for our generation and even after that,” Zeeshan said.

Zeeshan Ayyub on response to Scoop

The 39-year-old actor feels with Scoop he has made his debut all over again. “All the praise that I have received in the last 10-12 years, I think it has accumulated in Scoop. I thought I was working in this industry for so many years but now suddenly it feels like I have done something for the first time. I don’t want to name names but I have received so many calls from different people,” he added.

“Most people want a boss like Imran. I hope they get one. We also need it as a country,” he said. Scoop also marks the first collaboration between Zeeshan and his wife Rasika Agashe who played an abusive prison guard in the series. However, they don’t share any scenes together.

“I got one of the best compliments from my wife. She was like ‘I don’t know this man that’s on the screen’, so that was really great to hear. My brothers are calling me, my cousins, everyone is so happy. I spoke to my mother. She is right now in Australia with my elder brother and she just started crying looking at the response and reading it. It feels like I have done something for the family also,” the actor also said.

Zeeshan made his debut with No One Killed Jessica and went on to appear in films like Raanjhanaa, Shahid, Article 15 and Raees. He was also a part of shows like Tandav, A Simple Murder and Rangbaaz.

(With inputs from PTI)