Ask Anupam
Anupam Kher on Acting

I have had a hectic three-week long spell of shooting in Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderabad. I had very little time to indulge in any of my favourite activities, reading especially. So, I decided to do what is now become a habit. Listening, talking to young men and women who aimed to become actors and actresses. I talked to them about their aspirations and they found in me the ideal counsellor and asked me all kinds of questions about acting. And as I travelled from city to city I realised how more and more of our youth were being lured by the glamour, the glory and the glitter of films than slogging it out to get degrees and certificates and PhDs only to earn a few thousand rupees which was not enough to keep body, soul and the temptations of the world together. They were interested in making acting a career more than any other career. I talked to them about the ups and downs of the career.

I talked to them about the very slender percentage of "boys and girls" making it as actors and stars. I talked to them about how only talent would triumph in the long run and I also talked to them about the hundreds walking the lanes and by-lanes of Mumbai trying their best to catch that rare falling star.

I told them how the success of one Hritik Roshan could and would destroy the lives of so many other young men. Hritik has proved to be stiff competition for the biggest names with his film Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai. It is the kind of success not even Amitabh Bachchan or Rajesh Khanna had seen with their first films. Now you will see all kinds of Hritiks all over having a new rush of blood and fire because if handsome Hritik with all his muscles and talent could make it so "smoothly" (there are producers who are willing to pay him any price just if he says yes, the dates and the script and the other trivial things could be discussed later). They could too. And it is the super success story of Kaho Na... that has brought hundreds of boys and girls from Mumbai to Mauritius who felt they could make it too.

I tried my best to make three young hopefuls realise how difficult it was for a Hritik or an Amisha or an Anupam to make it. I talked but I wondered if they are listening, if they would ever learn. They had made up their minds and to hell with Anupam Kher and his advice. They did not know what was in store for them and there’s no way of stopping them even if I wanted to.

I met all kinds of aspirants, the rich and the poor, the talented and the not-so-talented, who also wanted to make it somehow to fame. They would try, struggle, starve, come what may. I saw some hope for some of them. I saw absolutely no hope for them but who was I to pass judgement? They had young fiery minds of today. They would make up their minds the way they wanted to. I could only tell them what I knew. They would learn their own lessons. So many have. They would too.

UR RAMESH, MANGALORE
Why don’t today’s actors (and even villains) have dashing looks and personalities like those of the early days?
Waqt waqt ki baat hai. It is also something that cannot be explained very easily but it is certainly disturbing to know that we don’t have towering personalities like Prithviraj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand, Raj Kapoor and so many others. They don’t make men like them, I suppose, which is very sad for us now and for the future.

SUBROTO GHOSH, BHUSAVAL
Can a writer help an actor?
Of course he can. In many ways it is a good writer who is the base of all that is good in a film. And a good writer is certainly a must for any actor who needs a good role to prove how good he/she is.

DP YADAV, BHOPAL
Why don’t you play a character like Dr Dang again?
They don’t create characters like Dr Dang these days. I am a complete actor. I am willing to play any character any time but where are the writers who create such characters now? It’s a sad situation for actors like me. That’s one reason why I had stopped accepting roles for some time. Fortunately some good characters are coming my way. You will see Anupam, the good actor in me again soon.

TV RAO, BANGALORE
Why do they say that it is very essential to play up to the big names, do chamchagiri like they say, if you have to make it big?
It is not essential if you are good, if you have the talent to prove that you are good and if you have the confidence you don’t need to do something as degrading as playing up to men who are less talented than you. You certainly don’thave to indulge in chamchagiri if you have the
dum in you. Certainly not.

DOLA BAROT, BARODA
I have just finished my studies. I have made up my mind to be an actress. I am willing to make any sacrifice, go through any struggle to try but not the casting couch. What should I do?
Whoever told you that the casting couch is a must to be an actress. It isn’t. The only things basically essential are talent and that mystery called luck. You must not give up your ambition just because of some baseless and false advice some people drive into your innocent mind.

SUBODH SHETTY, MANGALORE
Does the industry have a weakness for Shettys? Why are so many Shettys seen all over in every department of the industry these days?
It is all a matter of coincidence. The industry is the only genuinely secular place in the country where only what you are matters. The Shettys are hard-working and talented people. That’s the only reason they have made it. There’s no other reason, really.

SHYAM KUMAR, MUMBAI
How important is dancing for an actor?
As important as breathing, I’d say today. No dancer, no actor. That’s the ruling dictum today. It may change tomorrow but today it is.

A SWAMY, KOCHI
Will you give me a break in your film? Give me one chance and I can teach men like Dilip Kumar and you what great acting is?
You need immediate psychiatric treatment. I can help you find some good ones if you are sane enough to come to Mumbai.