Heeramandi star Taha Shah Badussha: Growing up in Abu Dhabi helped me dream big

Actor tells The National how his 'truly humbling' journey to Bollywood was all thanks to taking a big risk – and 15 years of hustle

Taha Shah Badussha is a risk taker. It’s how he landed his breakout role in the Netflix global hit Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar.

When Badussha first heard that renowned director Sanjay Leela Bhansali was working on a big-budget project with Netflix, he chased down the team behind the production to be cast in any role.

Badussha was initially offered a small part and, after meeting Bhansali, he was asked to audition for another bit-part role, which he was also offered. However – much to his surprise – he was asked to audition for the series' lead role.

“To be very honest, to be a boy from Abu Dhabi, this is a huge opportunity,” he tells The National on an episode of Culture Bites. “It's truly humbling, especially after 15 years of the hustle. God has been very kind.”

Heeramandi is an Indian period drama that follows the lives of tawaifs, the talented and elite courtesans in Lahore in pre-independent India.

Badussha plays Tajdar Baloch, a privileged nawab who returns to India after studying law at Oxford in the UK. While Tajdar appreciates his British education, his idealism and passion eventually leads him to join the rebellion for the country's independence.

To complicate matters, Tajdar is also in love with Alamzeb, played by actress Sharmin Segal, the youngest daughter of Mallikajaan, the renowned courtesan of Heeramandi.

It was a long three-month wait before he was given the role of Tajdar. During that time, Badussha was offered roles in other projects but his instincts told him to wait in the hope that Heeramandi would work out.

“I had three projects in my hand that I was supposed to sign the contract for but I stalled and stalled and then came decision day,” he says. “With a very heavy heart, I decided to leave all the money and all the three films and literally I had nothing. It was a big risk.”

It ultimately paid off. Heeramandi completely changed the life and career trajectory of the Abu Dhabi-born actor.

But Badussha has always had big dreams for himself. Growing up in the UAE capital, he attended the American University of Sharjah where he studied entrepreneurship. Soon after graduating – and with encouragement from his mother – he joined the New York Film Academy in Abu Dhabi to pursue his passion for film and performing.

That childhood and adolescence spent in the UAE prepared him in many ways to pursue acting in Mumbai – another risk that he says has paid off.

“Growing up in Abu Dhabi and the UAE in general, made me an audience member first,” he says. “It made me appreciate stars when they come over here and when they did performances. Growing up over here made me dream big.”

Badussha has been trying to make it in Bollywood since 2011.

Despite acting in films such as Luv Ka The End in 2011, Gippi in 2013 and even appearing with Bollywood stars Katrina Kaif and Sidharth Malhotra in Baar Baar Dekho in 2016, the industry presented Badussha with a set of challenges at the start of his career.

“When I first stepped in Mumbai, it was a very different country altogether – it’s a big city, you get lost,” he says. “You had to be smart enough not to take the wrong advice.”

Heeramandi cost more than $20 million to make and became a global hit for Netflix. Although reviews have been mixed, the series has been well received by audiences and praised for its music and costumes.

“It’s the opulence, the magnanimous sets, the incredible beauty of the actresses and actors, but more than that, I guess it's Sanjay Leela Bhansali, right?” Badussha says. “He’s the most renowned and the most incredible filmmaker of our times. And he puts the story forward in a way nobody else does.”

Badussha elaborates that the experience of working with the director taught him the importance of focusing on the small details.

“There's a word that kind of gets thrown around in many places called 'chalta hai'. It [means] it's okay, let's go, let it happen. But for [Bhansali], it's never okay,” he says.

“He wants perfection. I believe that that's what I've taken away from him – that whatever you do, you can do it better, you can do it with more grace, you can do with it more passion with a better, bigger vision.”

Badussha’s bigger vision moving forward is to keep working on films and projects that he’s passionate about.

“Before I would chase projects down, I would chase directors down,” he says. “Now I get to choose my projects, I get to decide how my career trajectory goes, where it goes with my own choices and decisions rather than just taking up anything that comes my way.”

With the success of Heeramandi and finally breaking into Bollywood, Badussha says the result of his growing popularity has been difficult to put into words.

“If I had to narrow it down, I would have to say the kind of love and recognition and respect that comes with the success is very humbling," he says. "My life has changed."

Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar is now streaming on Netflix