Ask Anupam
Anupam Kher on Acting
I am going to talk about a strange ‘brand’ of youngsters who run away from home, catch the first bus, train or flight, according to the class they belong to at the time of their running away to reach Mumbai, reach only to fulfill their over-powering dream which doesn’t let them live in peace. A few true-to-life stories will give you an idea of what leads these youngsters to run away to Mumbai, the city of dreams, without for a moment realising that the city of dreams can also be a city of nightmares. They may help you if you are thinking on similar lines now or are tempted to doing something so rash in the future...

I am sitting with this veteran filmmaker. He wants me to do a role in his forthcoming film, a role in which I am not interested. Suddenly there is a lot of commotion outside the producer’s cabin. A handsome young man rushes into the producer’s cabin, screaming, with three men running after him. He says he has already bribed the security guards at the gate to get in. He has already met two young men who approach him. They ask him what his problem is. He tells them he has run away from his home in Jabalpur to make it as a hero in Hindi films. The two men ask him if he has some money with him. He says yes. They ask him for a thousand rupees, five hundred rupees each, and ask him to meet them at the same place the same time three days later. The young man lost in a strange city gives them the money without asking any further questions. He believes every man he meets is an honest man out to help him fulfil his dream. But he wants to meet the big filmmaker with whom I am sitting somehow, anyhow. The filmmaker’s peons ask him a few questions and say he will have to pay them “rupees five hundred only” to get him an appointment with their sahab. He pays the peons and rushes into the sahab’s cabin before anyone else can fleece him any further. The sahab makes him relax. He asks the same guilty peons to get the young man a glass of water.

The wily wicked peons ask him if he would have “plain water or water with ice” and wink the wink of the wicked. The young man doesn’t talk. He just falls at the feet of the Sahab and asks him to make him a star. And even before the sahab can open his mouth or say something the young man places a big envelope before the sahab. “This is ten lakhs, sir, I can arrange for more if you want but Sahabji, please make me a star”, the young man says. The Sahab who is known for his good and helpful nature tells the young man to keep the money with him (the Sahab) and then asks him a few questions. He asks him why he wants to be an actor. He says he will commit suicide if he doesn’t make him an actor. The sahab smiles and says he was waiting for a young man just like him to start a new film. He asks him his full name, his address in Jabalpur from where he had run away from home and asks him to come to office again the next day to listen to the story of the film he was to work in and work out other details. The young man is delirious with happiness. He believes he’s got his first big break without even trying. He leaves and walks on air. He is a star in the making with such a big name as his first director. What more could he ask the good God for!
The Sahab goes into acting immediately. He sends a telegram to the boy’s father and asks him to leave for Mumbai immediately if he was interested in his son.

The next morning. The young man dresses up in his best clothes and takes a taxi to reach the Sahab’s office in style. He reaches his Sahab’s office only to find his father and his entire family waiting to welcome in the sahab’s office. He wonders whether it is a dream or a nightmare. It is the stark truth striking him in the face. The Sahab hands over the briefcase carrying ten lakhs of rupees in cash to the young man’s father. The father is grateful. The son looks completely dejected. The Sahab could have easily taken the young man for a ride but he had a conscience. He knew what was right. He saved the young man and his family.

But not every Sahab is like this Sahab. There are so many who open small offices in the suburbs of Mumbai. They insert ads in all the small sleazy magazines, especially in the North. Their only job is to sell false dreams to gullible youngsters. The young ones fall for their guiles, lose a lot of money and go back broken-hearted. I know of countless cases of these fraud producers and directors who’ve specialised in playing with the dreams of young men and women who take their bold steps to reach the doors of their “grand” filmmakers and walk out lost, dejected, destroyed, left to fend for themselves, left on some street which heads nowhere or waiting for some fairy Godmothers, or Godfathers to pick them up and give them back their dreams. This happens only when dreams come true. A majority of the young men and women who run away from home to become stars end up as part of a trap from which there is no running out, no running away. It’s strange, sad, but true. Some of the best things happen here. Some of the worst things also happen here.

CR DEWAT, VILE PARLE, MUMBAI
Why is that so many stars and superstars of yesteryears like Dharmendra, Rajesh Khanna and Vinod Khanna are without work? They are talented, have proved themselves, still the industry seems to have pushed them out. Why? Who do you think is to be blamed? The audience or the industry? The audience is still willing to accept them. So why this injustice to those who were considered to be demi-Gods once?

This is a very fickle industry, my friend. You don’t know when a Jatin Khanna will be a Rajesh Khanna, the greatest superstar and when he will be in no man’s land. Dharmendra, Vinod Khanna and Rajesh Khanna have played their best innings in Hindi films where the innings for heroes are quite short. They have been very successful in their times. They will be accepted only in character roles now and there are no good writers to write good roles for them. That’s their tragedy.

ABDUL AZIZ, CALCUTTA
Is education a must to be an actor?
Time was when education was not considered a must for an actor. But the times have changed now. Education is essential for progress and success in any field. Reading more than just getting a degree really helps an actor grow. Take some of the best actors and you will know that they are all educated and well-read. Personally speaking, I find the time to read, however busy I am. I feel incomplete otherwise. There’s no growth if there’s no education and there’s no enlightenment, no moving with the times without reading.

SHYAM SALIAN, MUMBAI
Some of the acting schools in Mumbai boast of training some of the great talents of today. They also promise roles in films as soon as the students complete their course. Should I believe them and join?
I don’t think any of these acting schools can guarantee the making of good or great or successful actors or actresses. They can only mould talent, shape it, design it. That is if the teachers are good. I can’t say anything about their ability to get roles. The only stars some of these institutes have produced are the sons and daughters of stars who are guaranteed breaks by their adoring parents.

JOAN RAJALINGAM, MUMBAI
Is it very difficult for a girl to make it as an actress more difficult than for boys?
There is a grim shortage of good acting talent among girls. If you believe you have the talent come on and join the game of the limited few. There are obstacles. I must warn you, but if you have a strong will and have a firm belief in your talent, I don’t think things should be very difficult. Don’t give up hope before trying it out.

AMITABH KASHYAP, NEW DELHI
I am the best actor in my college. I have already decided to make acting my career. What should I do?
If you care for my advice you must first complete your studies. Then think of a career as an actor. It’s not easy making acting a career. I am not discouraging you but trying to encourage you, so that you don’t have to repent later. If you have the patience, the potential and the pluck plus the luck you could even be the next Amitabh. Let optimism guide you and your belief in yourself grow stronger.