When she won the Bavarian Film Prize as best actress for her play in Sönke Wortmann's “Contra”, the laudation said: “Nilam Farooq succeeds in not only passing an old hand like Christoph Maria Herbst but also shining. “But the 32-year-old actress manages even more: bridging two very different cultures, showing moral courage, having been a YouTube star with millions of followers at the age of 20 and now slowly maturing into a character actress.
In “Contra” she plays a strong-willed law student who, after a racist verbal attack by her university professor, takes on him in a rhetoric contest.
She comes to an interview at the Zurich Film Festival like a job interview in a blue business suit.
But actually fits perfectly with her straightforwardness, her strength of will and even her name: Nilam comes from Sanskrit and means “blue sapphire”.
Nilam, did you know what a potato party was before “Contra”?
No, I only found out here that this is the celebration when you officially become a German citizen.
I enjoyed myself very much.
This new creation is fantastic and could become a winged word through "Contra".
You yourself were born in Germany, as a child of Polish-Pakistani parents - a not very common combination. How did that come about?
My father wanted out of Pakistan when he was 18, preferably to America.
He set off and then stayed in Germany.
In a suburb of Berlin he saw my mother in a normal BVG bus and shortly afterwards proposed to her.
What about your mother?
Is the youngest of ten siblings from Poland.
She always drove the same route on the bus and was not at all interested in my father.
But he was persistent.
After the sixth application, she said “yes”.
How were you shaped by the different growing media of your parents?
The Pakistani look is what comes through most clearly to me.
Unfortunately, my father failed to teach me the language.
The Polish influence is more noticeable to me, in terms of food, language, culture and mentality.
Through our cultural mess we have learned to always find compromises: Dad agreed that we should be baptized because mom was important.
In return, Mom agreed that we shouldn't eat pork at home, a rule from Islam.
Today I see it as a huge gift that I grew up with both worlds and that I can understand both.
Have you ever experienced racism, whether latent or direct?
Fortunately, my combination is more likely to spark curiosity and interest.
I have never experienced direct attacks, but certainly everyday racism.
Often it is utterances that people do not even notice.
A costume designer once said: “You always have such beautiful names.” I know that was meant as a compliment.
But what does she mean when she says "you"?
Who are we"?
I also hear something like: "Look, I put these earrings on especially for you" - and then they are oriental earrings.
Sure, this is not meant badly, but what should that tell me?
I am more German than anyone else in many respects.
How do you then react specifically in these situations?