Ask Anupam
Anupam Kher on Acting

I’ve tried my best to find some good teachers of acting in Mumbai and, believe me, I’ve found and am still finding it difficult to find any, any in the real sense. Anyway, I will try and give you some names which can be of help but I can assure you that not one of them is good enough to be called a teacher of acting, a teacher who can make an ordinary human an actor (and I firmly believe that an actor is not an ordinary human being). I am a firm believer of the opinion that an actor is born and that actors/actresses can not be made come what may or come who may. These acting ‘gurus’ can teach you acting to a certain extent, then, no more. Then it is all up to you and what is in you.

I was once invited as the chief guest at the “Annual Convocation” of an acting school. It was started by a failed and frustrated producer. His house itself was the acting school. The students who paid a hefty fee were made to sit on the floor (“this is the way our gurus used to sit whenever they used to learn”, the guru said and the students believed). There was a video recorder and an outdated tape recorder placed in different corners of the room and they were as old as the acting “guru”. There were photographs of some of the all-time great actors and some “handsome” profiles of the “guru” himself to inspire the to-be artistes. The acting “guru” had hired a cinematographer who had worked in some masterpieces made in the 60s, a dance director and a fight director. They were all over 60 years old and there were times when I found them dozing off. The only man who was active was the “guru”. He screamed the most at the students who trembled because he had a voice that came from somewhere far away from his voice box. The students were gripped by fear. How could a student learn under such grim circumstances? And I wondered what they would learn about acting under these circumstances and with this “guru” - even if they would learn the basics of what he thought “acting” was. But they couldn’t help it. They had fallen into his trap and there was no way out “Fees once paid, would not be returned”, a notice in big red bold letters said.

The training started. “Remember, everything you say or do is being caught on the video by the man who has photographed Dilip Kumar and Madhubala. If you do well you too can become Dilip Kumars and Vyjayantimalas,” the guru screamed and the poor pack of students all woke up to make it as Dilip Kumars and Vyjayantimalas (that’s why they had come here) or any other Kumar or any other Mala and listened to him like the people listened to Moses on Mount Sinai. The fat and almost ugly looking “guru” then read out a long passage from a book on acting and said it was written by one of the greatest Hollywood actors whose name he could hardly pronounce. It was all about being natural while acting “because great acting was all about natural acting. If you are not a natural actor you can’t be a great actor. Look at Yusuf Sahab, yes Dilip Kumar my friend, Motilal, Sanjeev Kumar and our chief guest Anupamji Jo aaj hamare beech baithe hain. Kitni sharm ki baat hai because we don’t have actors, natural actors like them anymore. Aur aaj kal koi school mein abhi nahi jaate hain Anupamji yeh hamari khushnasibi hai ki aaj hamare school ko aur tum sab ko dekhne aaye.. I wanted to jump out of the sixth floor and sixth was sure death I said to myself and I had so much skill to do. The “guru” then made some students recite some lines and they did what they were told like sick parrots. I was later told that when their “guru” recites or sings it is worse. I wondered where I was and what I was doing till someone brought me a glass of water.

I will tell you something about Kishore Namit Kapoor who is easily one of the best teachers of acting in Mumbai today. He takes a lot of pain. He tries his best. He doesn’t take his students for a ride. He doesn’t take students who he genuinely feels can never make it as actors.

Kishore has just added the state-of-art technology to bring out the best in his students. He does whatever he can to the best of his ability but to date he has managed to “make” only those actors and actresses who are the sons and daughters of ambitious one-time actors and actresses or some big filmmakers out to try making films with newcomers. True recognition is teaching someone to learn from you and then make it only because of the way you teach. Kishore has the capacity but these days it looks like every student is in a hurry. They want to be stars on the spot. They want short courses which can take take them long.

Kishore’s latest triumph is Hrithik Roshan and Amisha Patel. Their success is also Kishore’s success, and Kishore is making the best of it.
And besides Kishore there are other teachers like Professor Roshan Taneja, one of the first ever teacher of acting from the FTII, Asha Chandra, Preety Ganguly, Adil Aman, Madhumati and her husband Manohar Deepak, Anil Chowdhary and atleast five others who promise to make kalakars within no time. I’ve just come to know that there are acting schools and acting teachers in places like Delhi, Ahmedabad, even in my birthplace Simla and Lonavala. I don’t know what these schools and teachers will teach and what those actors and actresses will learn. It’s a sorry state of affairs.

Before I end I must tell you of another teacher who specialises only in teaching girls and I am told all kinds of wild stories about her school and her ways of teaching. I am sorry I can’t go into details about her.

Sr Molly Rego, Mumbai
I am a nun and I see Hindi films sometimes when they are shown in school. What I don’t like is the way we priests and nuns are depicted in them. We are nowhere near like what the directors show us wearing huge crosses around our necks and saying “God bless you, my child” whenever they are allowed to speak. These roles are generally done by junior artistes, I am told. Haven’t our directors seen Mother Teresa and her followers? Haven’t they seen priests working in farms and fields and workshops? I have a strong feeling that these directors are ignorant about anything but their filmmaking and they don’t care to learn. Please don’t make a mockery of us, all you filmmakers. God bless you.

I fully agree that our Hindi films show priests and nuns in a very poor light.All they need to paint a correct picture is spend some time with some priests and nuns or atleast read something about them. It will help them a lot. It will help them not to make a mockery of themselves and one of the greatest religions. Don’t touch what you don’t know about should be these filmmakers’ motto. But who follows mottos these days?

Jerome Dias, Mangalore
I am sure my 60-odd appeals made to various filmi directors to consider me as an actor have fallen on deaf years. I am Jerome Dias, a Christian, so what? I am an Indian first. I know several languages fluently. I’ve worked among the tribals. I’ve worked as an actor in various kinds of roles in my institution and have been applauded. I don’t know why 60 appeals have been turned down. It seems like a conspiracy. I have given up finally. What do you think I should do?
Yours is a very strange case. Your sincerity shows in the way you have tried. No one would have appealed 60 times for the job of an actor. If they have done it on the basis of religion, all those directors deserve a punishment which will teach them lessons before they take a decision about the films and their own Ivans and Pantalinos, all of them Christians who still want to make it as actors in Hindi films.

Savithri Menon, Madurai
The urge to be an actress has overtaken me. I have not told anyone, not even my parents but it will not be long before I run away from home to try my luck as an actress in Mumbai.

Try, try my friend. Try not to do what you are hell-bent on doing. Just imagine the pain you will cause your parents when they realise that you have run away from home to be an actress. They may die, they may die broken hearted. So, what I suggest is that you talk to them, make them understand. If they understand, well and good. Acting is no longer considered a lowly profession. Try to make them understand with love. If they still don’t listen to you I don’t know what will happen to you, your future. God wins or you win.

Jayesh D, Jaipur
How much money will it take if I have to make a film with myself as the hero?

You seem to be a very innocent boy. YOU CAN NEVER MAKE IT AS AN ACTOR ONLY WITH MONEY, TAKE IT FROM ME. THAT’S THE TRUTH. I started off my career with ten rupees in my pocket. Dev Sahab had nearly nothing in his purse when he landed at Bombay Central Station. Talent brings in money. Money comes only if you have the talent to make money.

TKK, Lakhinpur
Let me make a confession, I have stolen lot of money from my parents and I am living somewhere as a PG in Mumbai. I want to use that money to be a star. What should I do?

I’ve never heard of anyone making it as a star by stealing his own parents’ hard-earned money. Go back, return their money, ask for forgiveness and then tell them that you want to be an actor. Look at their reaction then. There will be no better answer. lLeena Das, Kanpur
Why do some dirty filmmakers always ask for “something in return” if they have to give us a break.

It cannot be helped. These filmmakers need to run their offices, keep up their “reputation”. They have to show their families they are doing great jobs. That’s their way. You fall for it or you run away from it they will keep playing their games which have been going on for years.