As Daayra brings Meghna Gulzar back to the big screen, one supporting turn is quietly drawing attention: Saksham Dayma as Inspector Ibrahim. In an exclusive conversation, the actor said the part attracted him because it refuses to be a routine police story.
‘It is not just a straightforward crime or police story,’ Dayma said. The film, also starring Kareena Kapoor Khan and Prithviraj Sukumaran, explores justice, morality and the hard choices people make in extreme situations.
A cop with a moral centre
Dayma described Ibrahim as an officer with strong convictions and real contradictions. On the surface he is confident and dependable, but underneath he carries the moral and emotional weight of the situations he walks into.
The key for Dayma was not to label Ibrahim as right or wrong. He wanted to understand where that belief came from and what experiences shaped him. The fact that Ibrahim genuinely believes he is doing his duty was the most interesting part, he said.
Gulzar’s exacting process
Working with Meghna Gulzar meant sharing a set with a director known for preparation. Dayma said she gives actors room to discover a character, while keeping a sharp eye on small details of speech, reaction and posture.
Her dialogue discipline was particularly strict. ‘You can’t change even a comma from the script,’ he said. Seeing that level of commitment, Dayma added, made him treat his own preparation with equal seriousness.
Playing the man, not the uniform
Rather than imitate a police officer, Dayma built Ibrahim from the inside. He focused on:
- Finding the human being underneath the uniform: the doubts, anger, responsibility and emotional burden.
- Working for stillness and confidence instead of copying an authoritative look.
- Keeping the dialogue measured, direct and deliberate, with pauses that make every word land.
Dayma said the best collaboration happens when neither director nor actor dominates. The character should feel like a meeting point between Meghna Gulzar’s clear vision and his own instinct. Sharing scenes with Kareena Kapoor Khan and Prithviraj Sukumaran, he said, also pushed him to stay present and learn.
For fans, the takeaway is simple: Daayra gives its inspector an internal conflict, and Dayma plays that conflict rather than the khaki. That is a big part of why the performance is being noticed, and it offers a rare close-up of one of Hindi cinema’s most detail-minded directors at work.
Source: Filmibeat