Anupam Kher on preserving anxious energy: Experience doesn’t take away human aspect (IANS Interview)

Mumbai, Oct 8 (IANS) With two National Awards, a Padma Shri, and a Padma Bhushan, veteran actor Anupam Kher boasts an illustrious body of work.

The actor has over 200 films in his filmography ranging from his performance in the space of comedy, drama, negative shades, and a helpless father which marked the start of his career. Having achieved so much, one would feel that the senior actor knows it all, and knows exactly what buttons to push to put up a solid performance every time he graces the screen.

However, Anupam believes in preserving the nervous or anxious energy as he feels they are the major drivers for achieving artistic brilliance.

The actor spoke with IANS ahead of the re-release of his cult-classic movie ‘Khosla Ka Ghosla!’, and discussed how the film, which was filled with challenges, took shape, his role as a senior actor on the film along with the late actor Navin Nischol, and his take on achieving artistic excellence.

Anupam, who runs an acting school, and nurtures the actors of the future, feels that often it’s important to not be in control of the situation.

He told IANS, “Before doing everything, there is nervousness. And there should be. When I do theatre, and if I don’t have nervousness before a play, then I feel that something is wrong. Something is not right”.

The actor feels that “experience does not take away the human aspect of your life”.

“Experience prepares you for how to face a situation. Fear is of the unknown. Fear is with your own self. Because you want to be the best. You don’t know what fear is. If you are competent, you can never be brilliant. I am not happy being competent. I want to be brilliant”, he shared.

Anupam was the most known face across the audience on the sets of ‘Khosla Ka Ghosla!’. When asked about his role off camera on the sets, he told IANS, “I kept the whole unit together, because the film was going through a lot of financial crunches and problems. I knew that if the film stopped even once, then it would never be made again. So, to keep them together, I used to play games with them, keep them in good humour. I used to say, ‘Let it go, it happens in films, it happens in a lot of films’”.

He further mentioned, “Today, I can say that it has earned the status of a cult-classic. It’s a great film. The repeat value of ‘Khosla Ka Ghosla!’ is the highest among all my films. And a good script should be made. It hurts when a good film with a riveting story is not made. I have seen many films like this, some are not made, some are made but not released. But I am very happy that this is re-releasing on 18th of October. It will have a similar impact because people watch it 10 times and still want to watch it”.

When asked about how he pitched the character of KK Khosla, he said, “I just had to be loyal to the script. The script had everything in it. To be very honest. I just needed to be truthful, which is the most difficult thing. The script can be very good, but I knew that it should be done the way it is written. And I had to work very hard for that. There was acting but I knew that the acting should not come across as acting, it had to be in its very natural state”.

He continued, “That was a challenge. But this is where your hard work and observation comes in handy. I have seen such people in my middle class. Khosla sahab was also not doing comedy. But his situation was such that whatever he said at crucial moments became comedy”.

He also credited the director of the film Dibakar Banerjee and the writer Jaideep Sahni for helping him sketch a great performance, the one for the ages.

He said, “I must say that both Dibakar and Jaideep are such a wonderful combination. And, it was not like that both were actors. Both were not actors. Sometimes a director emotes for an actor for them to get a fair understanding of the direction in which the performance shall flow. But both were not actors. So, their detailing and conviction in the script helped me carve out the performance”.

The film went through delays, push back from the distributors, and production challenges but in the end it took home the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi at the 54th National Film Awards.

Anupam spoke about putting up a “real front” which helped the team to put together a brave front in the face of adversity during the film’s making.

He said, “You have to put up a real front. As they say, no one can stop the flowing river. Just because a diamond is kept in the coal mine, doesn’t mean that it has no possibility of shining. It was a matter of time. This profession teaches you. Especially if you have come from zero. I have gone through that time. I have spent nights on the railway platform. I have slept on the beach. When there was no money, there was nothing. I am an eternal optimist. My whole life, I have felt that failure is an event, never a person”.

‘Khosla Ka Ghosla!’, produced by Savita, Raj Hiremath and Ronnie Screwvala is set to re-release in cinemas on October 18.

–IANS

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