Ask Anupam
Anupam Kher on Acting

Some more shocking stories to try, to dissuade some more young men and women from dying to make it as actors and actresses.

It is a record, a record which will never be broken, a record which can never be broken anywhere in the world. I don’t want to break hearts by naming names. I still care for human beings and their feelings. I still care for the world, I still dream of a brave new world when the good will thrive and the evil perish. I still believe that the talented will thrive one day.

I just one day (I am talking about the record I met more than 10 victims of cheaters who posed as teachers and frauds, men and women who had made cheating and defrauding hundreds of men and women who craved to make it as actors and actresses, to build a brave new world of their own. I saw their dreams had become fodder for the man and women eaters, predators prawling on the lookout for a prey, especially in highly productive and richly fertile fields.

I met three victims of a PRO who was always dressed in all kinds of colourful clothes and wore only white shoes. He had convinced three young men into falling into his trap. He said he would “make them” at a price lower than any other PROs in the field could. He would get them the kind of publicity no young and rising star has ever received. He charged them a “humble” 10,000 rupees each “to complete all the details till the end result of making it as stars”. The men paid up. He gave them three months time. They waited and nothing happened in six months. And whenever they called the voice on the other side said either Sahab so rahe hai or Sahab naha rahe hai or Sahab meeting mein hai (to plan some more cheating for the day, perhaps). Next a well-known TV actress met a man who promised her a brand new life just for 2,000 rupees. The rest he said he would spend on his own till he could fulfill his mission in making her a leading actress. The TV actress who was the daughter of a leading writer fell for his charming ways and parted with the money and never saw that man’s face again.

A matronly (an ex-extra perhaps) promised to help a girl who had just come in from Indore. She offered her accommodation in a flat she had to share with three other girls. The next day she asked her for a sum of Rs 3,000 if she has to make it as an actress in TV serials. The girl from Indore said she wanted to make it as an actress in films. The matronly woman said for films it would take more than 10,000 rupees if she had to make it in films because the competition in films was very very tough. The girl parted with the money. The woman took her to three or four roguish-looking men who promised her to cast her as the leading lady in their new film which they would start in another two months. They asked for an advance of Rs 10,000 each. The matronly woman asked the girl from Indore to throw a party that night because, she said she had got the kind of breaks no other actress had got in such a short time. The party was over and soon the whole “party” was also over. The matronly woman, those roguish men and all the men she met in her way to make it to the top had all vanished God knows where. These kinds of stories keep on happening. I keep on screaming in these columns and telling youngsters not to fall into such traps and yet they go on. I can’t help it. I go on doing my duty with my conscience clear and my desire to help the needy.

TR Anand, Calcutta:
Will Amitabh Bachchan’s graph sky-rocket with Yash Chopra’s Mohabbatein? The internationally-known astrologer, Bejan Daruwala too has predicted big success for him by July 2000. What do you have to say?
A legend like Amitabh Bachchan doesn’t have to rise or sky-rocket. He is still the great Amitabh he is as an actor. He will be fantastic in Mohabbatein and Bejan Daruwala, incidentally, is the only astrologer I take seriously so what if with a pinch of salt sometimes.

How do you find time to answer our questions as you are always busy or rowing around the world?
I am writing this column only for the love of my young friends who want to be actors/actresses somehow. I just do it as a mission. I don’t charge SCREEN any money for the column I write. And as for time you have to find time to find time. I rarely take time as an excuse on any front.

Santosh Devaa, Pune:
What are the academic qualifications required to be a director?
You can follow the masters and even better than if you want. Or you can follow all those directors who are directed by their assistants. Sometime ago a bootlegger directed a film for a smuggler. The choice is all yours. You have to decide what kind of a director you have to be. As for working for or directing Mithun Chakraborty, the only way you can is go up to Ooty, meet the “Monarch” and tell him about your amibtions. If he says yes you are made. He may be a very popular actor just now but he is one of the most successful actors and also one of the best gentlemen in a world where gentlemen have gone out of fashion a long time ago.

W Dashrath, Hyderabad:
I am a writer who wants to know how to contact a producer both in Hindi and in Telugu. How should I go about it. What is the range of pay in both these places?
First of all, you are asking the wrong man the question you need an answer for. But from whatever I know it is very tough being a writer in both places. And the money part I think you are counting your chicken before they are hatched. Anyway, if you feel you have a good script you can keep trying. If you are an optimist you must keep trying and if you believe in destiny you could be the next most successful writer in a world where they have stopped manufacturing good writers.

TA Sai Sudha, Hyderabad:
Is Sonu Nigam making his debut as an actor in a film called Aankhon Hi Aankhon Mein. What is your opinion about him. Will he become the next Hrithik Roshan?
Yes, Sonu is going to concentrate on his career as an actor now. Aankhon Hi Aankhon Mein is his first film. As for his becoming the next Hrithik, it is very very early to say. You know some years ago Hrithik used to bring Shah Rukh Khan his chai during the making of Koyla and push the trolley for his shot and help him with his costumes and dialogue. Following Shah Rukh and looking after his needs was Hrithik’s main job. Look what has happened today. Kaha na yeh kya hai?