“In India A Dwarf Is A Lesser Human,” Lilliput Speaks How Industry Saw Him As A Stereotype

Remember the ‘chhota packet bada dhamaka’ entertainer Lilliput? He was the one who made us laugh with all his antics on TV and films, paving the way for dwarf actors to actually be courageous enough to try their luck in the industry.

Lilliput is not only a brilliant actor but a brilliant writer as well and his prowess in writing has been displayed over and over again when he incorporated clever humour in serials like ‘Dekh Bhai Dekh‘. (The time when TV was simpler)

However, the veteran actor has opened up about his condition now that he has pretty much reached the last leg of his career and talked to Mumbai Mirror about how life has been treating him, now that he is no longer seen on TV.

It breaks my heart to tell you that the last five years have been nothing short of a nightmare for the brilliant actor, who once wove magic on the screen. He admitted that he is buried in debt and struggling to find any work. He said,

“For the last one year, I have been making the rounds of producers’ offices with two scripts. Some say, ‘Dekhenge, sochenge,’ while others are blunt, ‘Baune uthke chale aate hain director banne.”

Lilliput like a lot of people of his stature has faced ridicule at every step of his career. From an actor telling him, “Accha, you can do serious roles also, I thought dwarfs were apt for only comedy”, to people telling him that his pager number is longer (read taller) than him.

However, Lilliput was never negative about making it big in tinsel town and that was the reason he christened himself Lilliput and did not use his real name, MM Faruqi. His initial thought was that his height would be instrumental in getting him work.

He also confessed that towards the start of his career a reputed Assistant Director, who shall remain unnamed, warned him that the film industry would not look past his height and says, “In hindsight, I realise he was right.”

Condemning the bias of the film industry towards his height, he confessed that it was the lack of acting roles that propelled him towards writing and said,

“But the Hindi film industry lets the length of a man’s legs define his capability. It doesn’t understand that a man doesn’t think with his feet.”

Praising Director Subhash Ghai who gave him his due by casting him as a villain with Amitabh Bachchan in a movie. He says that nobody saw him the way Subhash Ghai did. He was exploited by many directors and producers and saw a time when he had to borrow money from friends without any resources to pay them back because his payments were delayed for extended amounts of time. He was even paid lesser than what was agreed upon.

He also said that since he is out of work, he has had to depend on his elder daughter who has become the breadwinner of the family. He also brought up the differences in industry with reference to everybody’s favourite wine-drinker, Peter Dinklage aka Tyrion Lannister and said,

“I see that better roles keep coming his way in Hollywood while India still can’t understand that a dwarf can fall in love, fight, travel and even play mindgames. Here, a dwarf is a lesser human being because of his height. Every day I feel wasted as an artiste and that’s my biggest regret.”

It’s rather unfortunate that our industry is so huge and yet so shallow that a veteran actor has been left to struggle for work, despite having the talent to make it big in the industry.