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Pavan
Malhotra
An actor is a greedy creature 
Pavan,
what happened to your beautiful serial on brotherhood across the border
Kahan Se Kahan Tak?
They stopped it because of Kargil. The serial espoused Indo-Pak brotherhood
which didn’t go with the mood of the moment. Personally, I felt we
needed a serial like Kahan Se Kahan Tak all the more during those trying
times. They could afford to discontinue the serial because it wasn’t
fetching huge revenues like Amaanat. But it wasn’t a flop either.
| He’s there. He isn’t there. The gifted Pavan Malhotra has been playing hide and seek with our perceptions for years now. Now we see him in a spate of television programmes, now we don’t. Ready to take on any medium, large or small, Pavan typifies the dilemma of a committed actor who isn’t cut out to be a matinee idol. Never interested in usurping Shah Rukh Khan, Pavan only wants meaty and challenging parts that would keep the actor within him alive and animated. But will the industry let him have his rightful share of opportunities? |
Your performance in Kahan Se Kahan Tak was above-ordinary by any standards.
What did you think of your own performance?
It was a very interesting character with lots of very emotional sequences.
I had never played a 50-plus character before. I really felt the emotions
of my character. I realised through my experience of working in Kahan
Se Tak Kahan Tak that common people had no say in the partition of the
country. Speaking of Indo-Pak relations I really liked Sarfarosh as a
film. It did mention the ISI as an enemy. But we couldn’t go on whispering
about the enemy. Even in my serial Kahan Se Kahan Tak we spoke out against
prejudices on both sides of the border. Even today when I meet people
they mention Kahan Se Kahan Tak and 9 Malabar Hill. I think good work
is more important than a long-running serial.
So you feel television for all its limitations still makes an impact
on the audience?
Of course it does, although it’s much harder to hold the audiences’
attention on television. In cinema, audiences sit through a film even
if they don’t like it. There’s no distraction in the theatres.
On television an actor has to constantly fight for viewers’ attention
from outside distractions as well as the hundred other channels. Agar
cinema mein aap Sarfarosh dekh rahen hain to aap Dilwale Dulhaniya Le
Jayenge to nahin ja payenge.
Would you prefer to do substantial roles on television than those cameos
that you did in Subhash Ghai’s Pardes and Deepa Mehta’s 1947
- Earth?
Given a choice, I would rather do author-backed roles on television
like the ones in 9 Malabar Hill, Kahan Se Kahan Tak and Mrityudand. They
are far more satisfying. If, however, I was offered a choice of doing
Kahan Se Kahan Tak in cinema or on television, then I’d be lying
if I said I preferred television. When I started doing television with
serials like Nukkad and Intezaar, people said you’re very good but
you can never be successful on the large screen because actors are over-exposed
through television. But after Shah Rukh Khan, Manoj Bajpai and Ashutosh
Rana - he incidentally is still doing television - can people really say
this? No one with any sense looks down on television any longer. For me
as an actor, the main high is to act. Whether you put a Kodak film or
a Sony tape into the camera isn’t an issue for an actor at all. I
don’t deliberately spoil my performance or enhance it for the size
of the screen.
But your performance has much more impact on the big screen.
No, I don’t think about that when I’m doing a scene. When they
talk about over-exposure through television they forget Shah Rukh Khan
did five serials before coming into films. Manoj Bajpai and Ashutosh Rana
did daily soaps! Or look at my repertoire on television. Whether it is
Ujale Ki Ore, Malabar Hill or Mrityudand, each time I played a different
character. So where’s the question of over-exposure? I think proposal
makers rather than filmmakers think this way. Such trivialities don’t
mean a thing if actors are cast according to their suitability to a role.
Mrityudand is doing better than your other serial with Siddhartha Sengupta
9 Malabar Hill.
I am glad. I am named Shivum in both Malabar Hill and Mrityudand.
Again, I’m playing a character unlike any other I’ve played
before. I’ve played lots of extroverted characters in Nukkad, Intezaar,
Kahan Se Kahan Tak and 9 Malabar Hill. In Mrityudand I am more subdued.
It’s much more difficult to be quiet before the camera. With Renuka
Shahane being introduced opposite me, my character is suddenly very animated.
How do you enjoy doing Saeed Mirza’s political satire Raja Ka Baja?
I thoroughly enjoy it. The script of each episode is very well written.
Raja Ka Baja is very different from what we get to see on television these
days. Again,it took some time to pick up. I’m doing a more conventional
serial for Zee called Patang. It’s directed by Partho Mitra. It’s
a fairly routine relationships story. I get lots of offers on television.
I must have said no to seven or eight detective serials. There’s
nothing much to be done in that genre any longer.
Why aren’t you in your wife Aparajita Krishna’s serial Antaraal?
I was away shooting for Raja Ka Baja when she was casting. Secondly,
I didn’t want to start fighting with her on the sets (laughs). But
I’ve constantly been helping her with the production. I’m with
her all the way. Besides, Om Puri and the rest of her cast have performed
very well in Antaraal.
What else do you have on the anvil?
I have shot for the pilot of another serial with Lekh Tandon entitled
Khushi where I play the father of grown-up sons. Kahan Se Kahan Tak was
the first serial I did with Lekhji. Kanwaljeet has done the maximum serials
with him. In cinema, I would love to do character roles like the ones
played by Amrish Puri, Om Puri and Anupam Kher. As an actor I feel one
should never give up. An actor is basically a greedy creature.
Subhash K Jha