The reluctant star

You started acting really early. How did the love begin?

I have been on stage since the age of 9. And that was a long time ago, so I don't know what got me into it but I remember playing a sunflower - it was my first stage appearance - after which all I remember is that I used to really enjoy being on stage. I felt very free when acting. That was in my mind and my heart for quite some time, but of course, along the way, life takes you into other things like doing your MBA, but I was still in constant touch with theatre. One fine day, I decided that acting is my calling and I decided to quit the safety of job and plunged back into theatre; the journey began in 1995. Thereon, it's been theatre, TV, films…

Moving from the security of a job to the fickle field of acting must take some courage. What made you go ahead?

Absolutely, that's why I call it the calling. You have a choice whether you want to follow it or not and for me, it was not a thin line, it was a thick line. I was highly paid and I was pretty good at my job; I had to really jump the line and cross over. I realised that I was not very happy doing what I was doing and there was no point continuing with that because ultimately you end up bearing the dissatisfaction. I then decided that the place that I am supposed to be is perhaps as an actor in this world. It came to me naturally. I went ahead with it and till now I have no complains about it at all.

…Neither do your fans! You are a very believable character actor but would you cross over to portray a 'hero' in a Hindi film or are you happy where you are?

Now you have opened Pandora's box. I have too many radical and frank opinions about this, so you may have to give me some time.

Go ahead… Let's hear something frank for a change.

Point 1. I don't understand the concept of a hero. I understand the concept as a post-facto title… you do something heroic and you become a hero; if you are a hero in the beginning, then what are you doing in the film? I don't understand this concept of a Hindi film hero. I understand 'protagonist', I understand 'antagonist', I don't understand 'hero'. The moment you say hero, there is no acting involved. It's portraying your own ego and doing it on screen. A display of your own personal ego is not acting according to me. That is a concept of most of the stars and the heroes of the industry, which is quite pathetic actually.

Point 2, on the concept of a character actor, my question to you is that do you mean to say that the so-called 'heroes' are 'character'-less? There is no choice, if you are an actor, you are playing a character… simple as that.

There is a stark difference between an actor and a star. A star has nothing to do with acting. To be a star is to lead a lifestyle, it's got nothing to do with acting; it's a direct function of their lifestyle.

For example, Vijay Mallya is a star but he is not an actor. Unfortunately we don't understand the difference as a consumer of cinema… the audiences are quite immature in India. They don't understand that they are not watching an act; they are just watching an extension of our college canteen and our college annual day functions on screen. That is believed to be cinema nowadays and that
is pathetic.

You mentioned that the state of cinema saddens you. But what about the new age directors like Vishal Bhardwaj, Anurag Kashyap? Whose work do you admire in the current lot?

There are a few directors whose work I admire a lot. Anurag Kashyap definitely. He is a lone ranger in that sense because he doesn't compromise an iota. There are others like Sudhir Mishra, but the change has been in the industry for about 15 years now. I'm about 55 films old now. I've seen this bout of change and this huge euphoria coming and then going. You have one flashy film that really does well in so-called mainstream cinema and everything goes down the drain… there's some trash music popularised by money power, so the producers will back something that makes money. It's all up to the audience to discern and use their discretion to discourage trash coming in. The audience doesn't seem to have the capacity because they are so taken in by the new bikinis and new biceps... I don't know whether the change will last for long, if it does, I'd be very happy.

That's why the characters you portray are very believable?

I want to make it believable whether it's real or fantasy, or even science fiction, I don't care. Avatar was believable for me. The director has to create a world which has, on its own, its inherent logic. Similarly, as an actor you can make it believable; whether it's real or unreal or surreal or fantasy is not an issue.

Do you feel that the actors are bigger than their films… that the film is sold on the actors and not the script?

Today, marketing has become bigger than the film. The marketing guy will tell you that 'sir, yeh bikta nai hai', please put an item song. If that is the case, then what is the marketing guy's job then?

It is eroding the whole concept of cinema in India. You should be able to sell anything because apart from portraying a guy who is 6'2'' (being 5'5”), I can perform anything, Irrfan Khan can perform anything, Naseeruddin Shah can perform anything.

As long as you are a Khan or a Kapoor, the storyline doesn't matter… Does the discrimination bother you?

Yeah, the reason I came out of advertising, I was uncomfortable with selling inanimate objects. Now all these so-called stars have become inanimate objects; they have become products. When it comes to cinema, I refuse to be a product. Simple as that. The moment you have surrendered to becoming a product, you get into the game of selling and you forget that you are a performer. You start doing your PR exercises nine months before the release. You become a glorified 'GM, Marketing' instead of an actor. Then you have the cheap media publicity, some controversy here and there... a total marketing gimmick.

You've worked with Naseeruddin Shah and Amitabh Bachchan… what did you learn from both of them as an actor?

I have worked with Naseer in films and in theatre; he is a fine-tuned actor and it's a pleasure to really watch him and learn. When you work with Mr Bachchan, you realise that if at all there is a prototype of a star in this so-called mainstream cinema, it has to be him.