Reliving his school days in ‘Funny Boy’
As Diggy: Hidaayath on the set of Funny Boy. Pic by Maithili Venkataraman
Hidaayath Hazeer’s first taste of acting was not on the stage. It was not even on the screen which is becoming familiar turf for the 24-year-old who will make his feature film debut in “Funny Boy” directed by the internationally acclaimed Deepa Mehta. It was around the glowing campfires as a boy scout at Royal College where he first discovered the joy of creativity and drama.
Although he loved writing and performing skits for the school scouting Jamborees (his father Rauf Hazeer is also a well-known poet writing in Tamil), the performing arts barely crossed his mind until he joined the school cast for the Shakespeare Drama Competition back in 2014. In his last year he sported a bowler hat and Inspector Clousseau- esqe accent to play the charmingly comedic Passepartout in a school production of Around the World in Eighty Days directed by Thushara Hettihamu (2016). The same year, his role as Mark Antony in their take on Julius Caesar for the All Island Shakespeare Drama Competition got him a nod for the Best Actor Award.
It was a year after he left school while performing in the Studiolusion production of Chatroom that Hidaayath knew he wanted to explore theatre. Since then he has appeared in a plethora of roles- from actor to assistant director and crew member for both local and international productions, writer, trainer and even music director. The young artist still holds fast to his sense of self and mellow optimism that has led him to opportunities arising in the strangest of places.
It was a random phone call from The Film Team back in 2017 that led him to his first on screen credit on the ITV series “The Good Karma Hospital”. Initially cast in a non-speaking role as an ambulance driver, Hidaayath was offered a speaking role as a young police officer following his audition.
On TV: A role as a policeman in The Good Karma Hospital. Pic courtesy The Good Karma Hospital
The experience opened his eyes to professional acting and production work. “It was the first time that I saw this as an option to follow professionally.” Enthusiastic yet cautious, the young thespian has learnt to see through the glamour of the industry and pursue work which is nearer and dearer to his heart; valuable advice he got from others in the industry.
In 2019, veteran filmmaker Deepa Mehta began production on Shyam Selvadurai’s enduring novel; Funny Boy. Written more than two decades ago, the coming of age story follows protagonist Arjun “Arjie” Chelvaratnam on his journey through a childhood imbued in racial tension and civil war while discovering and understanding his own sexuality in Selvadurai’s warm and familiar language and setting. Published in 1994, the novel won the Books in Canada First Novel Award.
On stage in school: As Passepartout in Around the World in Eighty Days. Pic by Malaka Mp
When Hidaayath got yet another serendipitous phone call from The Film Team, he was understandably taken aback when he heard Mehta was at the film’s helm; he had been a fan of several of her other films such as Midnight’s Children and Water. “But I didn’t hear back,” he says, still smiling. Hidaayath was nevertheless asked to do a few workshops for the children in the cast. It also meant meeting the veteran filmmaker to discuss his involvement in the process. And so, Hidaayath found himself seated in the lobby of the hotel she was staying in Colombo one evening back in 2019. “She was the centre of the room,” he recalls the moment he met the dynamic filmmaker. While Mehta left an understandably lasting impression on Hidaayath, the enthusiastic youngster seemed to have done the same, for he was immediately cast as Diggy; the older brother and foil to the quietly sensitive Arjie.
“I excused myself, went to the bathroom and just stared at myself for about two minutes”Hidaayath laughs. He sheepishly admits to never having been a voracious reader; he hadn’t read Funny Boy. But it worked to Mehta and Hidaayath’s advantage, allowing him the freedom to explore the toxic masculinity of Diggy and his often conflicted relationship with his younger brother. “It was the first time I was exposed to such a different narrative,” and Hidaayath quickly fell in love with the story and the different voices that needed to be heard in a version of Sri Lanka that he too was coming of age in.
For his role, Hidaayath found himself literally going back to his clean-shaven, school uniform days and reliving what it meant to be a ‘boy’ growing up in Sri Lanka. “It made me look back at the way I viewed masculinity and homosexuality when I was in school,” he says candidly. The child’s eye view of violence, war, race and sexuality made the filming process and the film itself a personal experience for the cast. “The story is soft and intimate,” Hidayaath explains, and is one with family and nuanced, three-dimensional characters driving the plot. The compelling and frustratingly real storylines make it difficult for Hidaayath to pinpoint his favourite; with every role hitting a familiar note for any Sri Lankan.
Even the current pandemic fails to dampen Hidaayath’s enthusiasm. “The most important thing is to be open-minded,” he adds, thinking back to chance encounters and experiences that have opened the door to opportunity and a chance to learn. “Everything you do will be interconnected at some point.”