I do not want to upstage Jatin

Television

I do not want to upstage Jatin

Sudhir Pandey has steeped into the shoes of the late Jatin Kanakia in the serial Hum Sab Ek Hain. A veteran actor, Sudhir considers this role as his acid test.

There is no similarity in the personalities of Sudhir Pandey and the late Jatin Kanakia. And yet, after the demise of Jatin kanakia, producer Asit Modi chose Sudhir Pandey to play the brigadier’s role, enacted earlier by Kanakia in his serial Hum Sub Ek Hain telecast on Sony.

The brigadier’s character had become synonymous with Jatin and taking Sudhir who has a different image amidst the viewers for the same role, was a risky step.

But the producer begs to differ. “Our brigadier has good personality and a fantastic sense of humour. He is nowhere ridiculed and Sudhir is good at playing such characters. As for the acceptance of the character from the viewers, Sudhir has the same get up and appearance as before. I have allowed him to act according to his comfort. So the character on screen does not look artificial or forced. Sudhir is very experienced and he will be able to carry the burden,” explains Modi.

As for Sudhir he was a bit reluctant in the beginning. This is the first time that this senior artiste has accepted a role mid-way in a serial. Otherwise, he’s in the serial from the time it is conceived. Secondly, this character is already very well established amongst the viewers.

When director Raju Parsekar approached him, Sudhir thought it over and eventually gave his nod. “They could have finished the character like many other serials of Jatin but they wanted the totality of the family set up. Someone had to do it. Since my dates were available I took the plunge,” he said.

In the beginning, it was somewhat difficult for him. In the close set-up, he felt like an outsider but he decided to accept it as a challenge. After viewing the previous cassettes, to make sure that he restrained himself within the framework of the character, he worked on his body language.

“Initially I kept myself within the tone of the programme and other characters, otherwise I would have looked like an alien. After 7-8 episodes I started imparting my own inputs and personality to the character. Imposing it suddenly would have damaged the viewer’s sensitivity,” explained Sudhir.

This sensible artiste has never been typecast. He has done a variety of roles in serials that range from serious and comedy to negative also. An unconventional actor, he has established himself as the no-nonsense but compassionate head of the family very convincingly in Amanat.

In Wilayiti Babu his image is quite different from Amaanat and still the viewers have accepted him. In Tejaswini his character is bordering on the negative side. He is ruthless and uncaring in the serial which is a total contrast to his other roles.

As he says, “My aim is to let people draw the character first, not Sudhir Pandey. I am in the background. After accepting the character, they should say that Sudhir has done a terrific job. I want the character to dominate my mind , not the other way round.”

Besides the talent for acting, the other inherent trait in him is his superb voice modulation. His father Devaki Nandan Pandey was an ace newsreader and had the mastery of the language. This took care of the basic talent and from there he graduated to acting. Then he never had to look back. Although he had established himself in films as a character artiste, once television started in a big way in ’85-’86, he left films to concentrate on this medium.

“For me acting always has been like riyaaz, that has to be done to achieve perfection. Singer can do it alone but for an artiste it has to be by way of experimental theatre. That is why I never left theatre and am still associated actively with IPTA. For a play, I make time in the morning to do rehearsals. In fact these morning rituals are like gymnasium for my mind where I learn the nuance of acting everyday,” he said. In the Prithvi festival this year, he has done the lead role in Makrand Deshpande’s play Laila.

For him Experimental Theatre is like an orderly disorder where the psyche of the actor’s mind comes out. He believes that it is also an outlet for one’s emotions.

Already seen in four programmes on air, Sudhir has three more serials in the pipeline which are due to be telecast soon.

One is Hotel Hindustani of Salim Kashmiri, where he is cast with Satish Kaushik. It is a comedy. He also plays the central role in a serial that revolves around the under world, titled Hukumat. This is directed and produced by Rakesh Sarang.

Both will be telecast on Zee network. Another is Buddha Ghar Per Hai directed by Rajesh Gupta and it will be aired on STAR Plus.

“As an actor this is a very satisfying phase for me. With such variety of roles I can prove my versatility to my viewers. My test will be the role of brigadier in Hum Sub... I do not want to upstage Jatin, but I do want to establish a healthy contact with my viewers, so that they will accept me as the brigadier. It has to be done without a jerk. The cast and crew has already accepted me,” he says confidently.

Neelam Gupta