Actor and model, Muzammil Ibrahim, just opened his heart out about the emotional toll he faced during the filming of his Bollywood debut, Dhokha, directed by Pooja Bhatt. The 2007 film, starring ace actors like Anupam Kher, Ashutosh Rana and Gulshan Grover, was unfortunately not a pleasant experience for Muzammil, who was only 21 years old at that time. In a recent interview, the Special Ops actor opened up about Pooja Bhatt’s ‘extremely abusive’ behaviour on set, which left him scarred at the very beginning of his acting career.
Muzammil Ibrahim recalls going through hell on the Dhokha sets
In a candid chat on Siddharth Kannan’s podcast, Muzammil shared his terrible experience as a debut actor during the shooting of Dhokha. Pooja Bhatt allegedly gave him a hell of a time, recalling her temperament and disrespectful behaviour towards actors. The actor added that while he remained respectful towards her, her behaviour was deeply disturbing. Muzammil was quoted as saying:
“Pooja Bhatt had a temperament which was very difficult and disrespectful towards actors. Mahesh Bhatt used to like me a lot. But Pooja said a lot of things about me… I was very respectful towards her, but… she was extremely abusive. I went through hell during its shoot. I suffered a lot, and I was very young. I got into depression because of it. I used to have nightmares.”
Muzammil shared how, being just 21 at the time and still in college back then, the shooting experience felt like ‘hell’. The actor soon fell into depression, and his mental health deteriorated so much that he had nightmares about the same. He recalled praying to Allah to save him from the director.
The Bhatt family knew about the situation, but couldn’t intervene
Pooja Bhatt’s father, Mahesh Bhatt, who had signed him for the film, was aware of the tensions. The veteran filmmaker liked Muzammil a lot, and he even asked Pooja not to behave that way. But when Mukesh wasn’t around, Pooja Bhatt used to repeat the same behaviour. In his words:
“He (Mahesh Bhatt) would ask Pooja not to behave with me like that, but she would do it when he was not around. The crew members and even Mukesh Bhatt told me stories about Pooja’s behaviour and temper.”
Muzammil revealed that he was so scarred from his experience that he turned down several films offered by the Bhatts after Dhokha. The actor shared how both Mahesh Bhatt and Soni Razdan were insistent on casting him in Raaz 2, but he was too scared to work with them again.
Muzammil on why he chose Dhokha despite warnings
In a 2020 post on his Instagram, Muzammil reflected on his debut in Dhokha and how his father had opposed the role. Yet, he felt strongly drawn to serious cinema and Mahesh Bhatt’s realistic storytelling. The actor revealed that he poured all his personal pain and bottled-up childhood trauma into his role as a grieving husband. A part of his post read:
“I had the option of choosing commercial films, but I went with Dhokha because I believed in the story. Bhatt sir told me this film would be remembered in my obituary, and I think he was right… I never used glycerine or acting tricks — I just performed my truth… No matter how much acclaim it has won me over the years, I’ll always remember it for the sheer hard work and perseverance I had put in for the role.”
Despite his rocky start, Muzammil continues to carve a space for himself in Bollywood. He was last seen in Neeraj Pandey’s espionage thriller, Special Ops and received acclaim for his role as ‘Agent Avinash’.
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