Saurabh Shukla
Realising his dream

Direction is the art of telling a story effectively. It’s about communicating with the audience, telling your point of view. This is what I learnt from Sudhir (Mishra), Ramu (Ram Gopal Verma), Subhash Ghai and Shekhar (Kapur)
An actor, a writer and director all rolled into one, Saurabh Shukla is passionate about all the three pursuits. As an actor he has done theatre, television and cinema. As a writer he has written plays, serials and films. As a director his experience was hitherto confined to stage. But now he has made his debut as director on television with a sitcom titled Little Mirchi Thoda Pepper which is written and co-produced by his wife Barnali.

Though he enjoys acting and writing immensely, Saurabh says he has had a fascination for direction. After working with Shekhar Kapur in Bandit Queen he wanted to assist Shekhar but Shekhar told him to perish the thought. In fact, after quiting the NSD’s repertory, Saurabh came to Mumbai with the ambition of pursuing direction but Shekhar Kapur advised him to pursue acting. “Shekhar told me that as an actor I will be financially more comfortable,” recalls Saurabh who debuted on television in the detective serial Tehqikaat and next wrote and acted in the highly appreciated serial 9 Malabar Hill.

But with better roles coming his way in films, he cut down his appearances on television and gave more time to the big screen. He acted in Is Raat Ki Subah Nahin, Kareeb, Taal and co-wrote and acted in Satya. But even while working in these films the desire to direct was always there and therefore he closely observed and interacted with the directors he worked with. He realised that direction is a highly specialised job. “It’s not about just placing the camera at one place and canning the scene,” he explains. “Direction is an art of telling a story effectively. It’s about communicating with the audience, telling your point of view. This is what I learnt from Sudhir (Mishra), Ramu (Ram Gopal Verma), Subhash Ghai and Shekhar (Kapur).”

Busy as he was writing Manoj Vajpayee and Tabu-starrer Dil Pe Le Mat Yar in which he has also acted, there was no immediate plan to take up direction. In fact, Saurabh says Little Mirchi Thoda Pepper fell into his lap. “Barnali and Monica (Chandna, the other producer of the sitcom) had done all the basic work and decided on everything except the director. They asked me to direct the first episode. It came out well and everyone including the channel liked it. Moreover, since I also enjoyed the whole process I decided to direct the entire serial”, he smiles.

The sitcom revolves around a family which has three males and an adolescent female. It deals with the growing up of a female among three men and how they cope up with all the problems and complications. Says Saurabh, “The situations we deal with are unique in nature but not alien to us as they happen to us in some form or the other. The treatment is light, humorous and realistic, not slapstick, crude or physical.”

Talking about its somewhat unusual title, Saurabh says it represents the attitude to life. “Like we often say life is khatta-meetha, life is also a little bit of spice and pepper,” he elaborates. “Also, since the title is a combination of Hindi and English, it represents the language we urban people speak as the serial is set in a metro millieu.”

Since he has had a fascination for direction ask him whether he feels more comfortable as a director when compared with acting or writing and he says all the three have different levels of comfort. “Writing is a painful job but once you have done with it, the comfort level and satisfaction is tremendous. In acting, the comfort level and reward is immediate. But direction gives you a wholesome feeling and a sense of achievement. And frankly I don’t want to miss any of these experiences.”

When asked to compare between writing for serials and films, he says after a point television writing gets too tedious mainly because of its volume and deadline. “At the same time it gives a writer tremendous scope to experiment as in a 52-episode serial a writer has to write not less than 700 scenes. So television writing is more challenging,” he elaborates.

Now that he is directing a serial, his dream to direct a film will also be realised in the near future. He is writing a film for Talking Pictures which he is going to direct. It’s a musical comedy for which he has finalised Manoj Bajpayee to play the male lead and the other starcast will be finalised soon. The film will go on the sets in April next year.

A bundle of talent, this roly-poly actor-writer-director who started with amateur theatre has come a long way and is today in the thick of things. Living a very comfortable life and enjoying what he is doing, Saurabh says the last seven years that he has spent in Mumbai has been the best period of his life. “But there is this strong urge and desire to do more and achieve more both materially and professionally,” he confesses. As they say, there is no end to desires and dreams.

A.L. CHOUGULE

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