Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Sejal Shah Talk Zee5’s True-Story Drama ‘Costao’

Real heroism comes at a devastating costs in the Indian film ‘Costao’.

“The reality is that you don’t always win the way you want to win,” says director Sejal Shah Variety About her real story drama premiere on Zee5 Global. The film describes Goan-Douane officer Costao Fernandes, who wrote history by intercepting an enormous gold smuggling operation in the 1990s to find his life that was destroyed when he killed a politically connected perpetrator in self-defense.

Star Nawazuddin Siddiqui has been one of the most productive and most appreciated actors in India in recent years. His credits include “Manto”, “Raman Raghav”, “Gangs of Wasseypur”, “The Lunchbox” and series including “Sacred Games” from Netflix and “McMafia” from Prime Video. He received an international Emmy nomination for 2020 Netflix film ‘Serious Men’.

“The journey of Costao is great. It’s about courage, honesty, discipline and suffering,” says Siddiqui. “When I choose a script, I always wonder about the characteristics of the character. The characteristics of Costao were very interesting. Sometimes he is quite absurd – he has a strange sense of humor, where he can laugh at something he himself said.”

Siddiqui describes the meeting with the Real-Life Costao several times before and during filming. “I tried to portray him in a way that did not feel like an imitation, but still conquered his essence. It was very important that it did not look caricatic,” he explains.

The actor found the double life of Costao particularly challenging. “If he serves, he is a different person. But at home, with his wife and children, he is someone else,” notes Siddiqui. “Costao, as a personality, has a lot of gray hues. And I really like that. If you patch up a real person, it should not be about showing only their good qualities.”

For Siddiqui, one of the most emotionally resonating scenes is that Costao visits the grave of the man he killed. “There is a scene in the cemetery where Costao says to the person who died:” You know I didn’t kill you. I was not planning to kill you. Only you know this. I can’t prove this anywhere – not in court, not anywhere else, “he says.” That scene was very special for me. “

Director Shah, who spent almost a year with investigating and developing the story with the real Costao, explains that adapting a true story came with unique challenges. “Most things have happened. So it was not very difficult for me to dramatize it,” she says. “But when [co-writer Bhavesh] Tried to dramatize it, it was not that we stayed away from what had happened to his life. ‘

Shah adds that the film undermines typical biopical expectations. “In the second half it is, you know, it’s like it’s a biopic, but it’s not that he wins. It is also a tragedy, in a certain sense. You know it is not easy for everyone to be a hero,” she explains.

Shah’s journey from journalism to direction was unexpected. After eight years as a journalist every week, she studied filmmaking at the New York Film Academy and directed documentaries before switching to producing with her company Bombay Fables, alongside writer BhaveH Mandalia. The company was successful with the “serious men” of Netflix starring Siddiqui and directed by Sudhir Mishra.

“I was not going to make films. I was happy because documentary is the following for a journalist. Instead of a pen you use a camera,” explains Shah about her early career transition.

For ‘Costao’, Shah wanted to create an authentic representation of Goa from the 1990s. “It is a very picturesque world that we have. The goa in the film, which is not the typical Goa, where are tourists and such. This is the real Goa,” she says.

The real Costao Fernandes has already seen the film and responded positively. “He was really happy with the film. He was overwhelmed and he had tears in his eyes,” Shah reveals. “That was a very important thing, because I was very scared when he watched the movie, more scared than anyone else.”

Shah hopes that the audience will take away different themes from the film. “I think the collection meals would in fact be that it is not easy to be brave,” she says. “I think it’s a story of any other person who fights for what they believe … It is also about redemption and forgiveness.”

Although Siddiqui has a global support from his work on platforms such as Netflix, he hopes that “Costao” will reach an even wider audience through the international reach of Zee5 Global. “Zee5 Global has a large reach – even in the US I hope people around the world watch the film,” he says.

Looks ahead, Siddiqui reveals that he is currently working on various projects, including “Thama”, “Raat Akeli Hai Part 2” and “Section 108.”

“Costao” is produced by Bombay Fables, Bhanushali Studios and Zee Studios. It streams at Zee5 Global from 1 May.