The scar makes him conspicous. The rims of his round glasses hide the dreamy look in his eyes. Aware of your gaze, he quickens his steps with his black robe flowing behind him. That messy hair and pink pursed lips — could it be the ‘boy who lived’? You follow him to a stage. He halts. And with a sway of his wand, shouts – Expecto Patronum. Meet Hussain Mustafa Unjhawala, whose uncanny resemblance to Harry Potter draws a lot of looks from people in Chennai. “I always wanted a dragon,” jokes the guy who played Harry Potter in the play, Heroes by ASAP Productions, staged last year. “Oh yes, I was the chosen one. Just to enact the role though,” says the 22-year-old, with a laugh.
Today, Hussain has learnt to sport a perpetual smile – be it to any kid pointing at him, to strangers who staring at him in a hypnotic way, and to girls ogling him. “I like the attention that I get,” he says, blushing. The red in his cheeks, you notice, is similar to what Harry wore while asking Cho out to the ball. “I had a girl friend in my school who resembled Cho Chang,” admits Hussain, who has been to ballroom parties, sans Parvati Patil. And that’s the closest he has got to Harry when it comes to romance. Ginny, you ask? Let’s say, she should have been a lot more better on screen to grab this Harry’s interest.
He may not have been raised by a snarley aunt, but Hussain has a liking for rough stuff — Biking in the Himalayas, walking on the frozen waters of the Pangong lake, trekking on the Changla pass and deep sea diving in Sri Lanka – the list could easily give him a wild card entry into the Triwizard tournament.
But would Dumbledore give the sword of Gryffindor and sorting hat for his assistance? Now that’s doubtful, since the Chennai-born Harry look-alike says he personally sees a lot more of Slytherin in him than Gryffindor. “My favourite character is that of Snape,” says Hussain. As if to explain his disloyalty, he clarifies, nobody has ever sacrificed for Harry as much as Snape did. Not even Dumbledore!
“I am sure Rowling was on LSD. Who else would think this way,” he jests, as he admits that he has been a Potter fan ever since he was in the eighth grade.