Sikandar Kher Met Abbas Kazmi Before Playing Him in Prahaar

Sikandar Kher knew that playing Abbas Kazmi in Prahaar: The Untold Story of Ujjwal Nikam would need more than a beard and a courtroom voice. Kazmi was the criminal lawyer who defended Ajmal Kasab, the lone terrorist captured alive after the 26/11 Mumbai attacks. Before facing Rajkummar Rao’s Ujjwal Nikam on screen, Kher wanted to sit with the real man and understand a decision many Indians still find baffling.

The first question was personal

Kher told India Today he asked director Avinash to set up the meeting before filming began. His starting point was not research but confusion: in a country shaken by an attack that killed 166 people, how does a lawyer choose to stand for the accused? “I needed to know how a person in that situation in this country comes on board to defend a terrorist like Kasab,” he said.

The actor kept the details of their conversation private. But he said the meeting helped him move past his initial reaction and see the professional conviction behind the brief. Kazmi’s position, as Kher came to understand it, rested on a principle larger than the individual: even a reviled defendant gets a fair trial.

Why the 26/11 trial still carries weight

The Mumbai attacks left 166 people dead and made Kasab’s capture a defining test of India’s legal process. Playing the lawyer on the other side of that case meant Kher could not treat Kazmi as a simple antagonist. The dramatic tension in Prahaar comes from two strong-willed professionals holding opposite sides of the same courtroom. That back-and-forth, Kher said, was what made the role interesting.

• He met Abbas Kazmi before the shoot to move beyond a knee-jerk reaction.
• The 26/11 attacks killed 166 people, which made the trial a national test of due process.
• His resemblance to Kazmi came down to a beard he was already keeping for another project.

The Rajkummar Rao factor

Kher and Rao had already worked together in Monica, O My Darling, and the old rhythm returned. “We do damn well together,” Kher told India Today. He said their shared comfort allowed the courtroom clashes to breathe, with sharp arguments and pointed jibes landing naturally because the performers trusted each other. “Both of us get the best out of each other,” he added, and that reciprocity mattered when the scenes demanded both actors hold their ground.

Still waiting for the family review

Kher’s parents have not yet watched Prahaar. His father, Anupam Kher, is filming in Sweden, while his mother, Kirron Kher, has just returned to Mumbai from Chandigarh and has been telling her son every day that she wants to watch the film. Sikandar said he especially values his mother’s response because she is, in his telling, brutally honest.

For audiences, Kher’s preparation is a reminder that even the most unsettling roles begin with one question: why? He did not try to make Kazmi likeable; he tried to make him legible. That distinction may be exactly what gives Prahaar its friction.

Source: India Today