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Your new film is called Nayak—The Real Hero. What is your concept of a real hero?
I believe that there is a hero in all of us. You don’t have to be someone special to be a hero. Anyone, from any walk of life, can become one. If you look into the past, you’ll see that most of our heroes have been common men... ordinary men. But men who are aware, awakened and mentally alive.
How do you react to being called a hero?
There’s a sense of commitment... a sense of responsibility. I know I can’t be casual or careless about my work because people look up to me. At the same time, at the back of my mind, being the kind of man I am and the kind of environment I live in, I know that I can’t take this `hero’ business too seriously. I’m well aware that I’m no different really from the man-next-door. If I’m being called a hero it’s because that’s the image the man on the streets has of me. I know I have to live up to this image but at the same time I can’t let it go to my head. I’m walking a tightrope most of the time. It’s a balancing act. You’re not afraid of toppling?
No, because I have made this distinction in my mind. The hero is the body, my inner self the soul. To keep the soul alive I have to look after the body. But I can’t get so caught up with the body that I let the soul perish. I have to remember that I’m human too. Being a reel-life hero doesn’t guarantee me immortality. One day this body is going to die. And then I’ll become a nobody. But you have a body of work that will live on.
I know some things will be remembered from my films. There’s a certain kind of music, for instance, that is timeless. But where my performances go, I have miles to go to achieve the kind of greatness that makes an actor immortal. People’s memories are short. They won’t have trouble forgetting me.
You’re being modest. At a time when your contemporaries are moving on to character roles, you’re still playing the hero.
I see it the other way. I started my career with different roles. I was never the conventional hero. My heroes were strong characters of substance. They became popular because they were drawn from real life and were not the regular chocolate-box, cardboard heroes. I’m still playing the same kind of roles. If I’m considered a hero, may be, it’s because I’m working with the heroine and that is an important characteristic of the Hindi film hero. But again, on one hand I’m the nayak of Nayak and on the other I’m doing a cameo in Lajja. The thief in Lajja doesn’t sing songs or romance. In fact, there’s no heroine opposite me in the true sense. To experiment with such unconventional roles, I’ve had to sometimes stick to the conventional to stay afloat. I have to be saleable to support a cause. All along I’ve gambled with my career. I’m lucky many of the risks I’ve taken have paid off. Talking of risks Lajja was a real gamble not just for you but producer-director Rajkumar Santoshi too who has challenged age-old doctrines to highlight the atrocities still committed on women in our society. Was the film an eye-opener for you?
Not really, because I was aware of the atrocities being committed on women. Rajji himself was inspired by the story of a woman who was gang-raped and burnt alive near Kanpur because her son had dared to elope with an upper caste girl. He was so appauled by the incident that he went to the place, visited the woman’s relatives and studied people’s reactions. Such things still happen. It’s just that not many of us are not aware of them happening and those who are don’t care. The role of the crook with the heart of gold in Lajja has been convincingly played out but it’s still just a cameo. How did Santoshi convince you to do it?
Rajji wanted me for the role but he didn’t know how to broach the topic because the role was so brief. He waited five days wondering how to approach me. It was Boney finally who told me that Rajji had a script he wanted to narrate to me. I had enjoyed working with him in Pukar. I decided to hear a narration and liked the whole concept. I’m not so self-centered that I have to think about myself all the time. I understood that Lajja was a woman-oriented film and that mine was not a leading role. It wasn’t even the role of a conventional hero. But Rajji needed me more as a star than an actor. So I decided to lend my name to the project. Your’s is the leading role in Nayak but you were not the first choice for the real hero. Reportedly, Shankar had conceived the role with Aamir Khan in mind and when things didn’t work out with him he approached Shah Rukh Khan. Shah Rukh didn’t want to play a TV journalist so soon after Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani. That’s when Shankar arrived at your doorstep. True?
I’ve read all this too but I’m not sure how far the story’s true. In fact, I’ve heard that the role was conceptualised with Rajnikant in mind. It was only when Shankar decided to make the film in Hindi that he went to the others. Where I’m concerned, wherever I’ve been, whoever I’ve met has told me that I should do the film. The role fit me to the T. So I did it. Simple. After you stepped into the picture, did the role undergo any changes to suit your personality and image?
I think the reason Shankar and I are working together on this film is because he didn’t want to make any changes in his original script and I respect that. I believe that an actor of calibre should be able to live up to the expectations of a script, fit in with the conception of the director. The director should not have to make any changes in his script to suit an actor’s personality and capability. When that happens it means that the actor has become stagnant. His characters become boring. It is important for an actor to stretch himself. I don’t mind attempting something different even at the cost of looking like a fool or my film flopping. You’ve certainly stretched yourself for Nayak, not just in your performance but even physically.
Yeah, that’s true. I am not really a physical person. I may be very fit and active but I have never gone in for bulk, muscles. I’ve also never projected my body on screen or even during photo shoots. But there was a sequence in Nayak that required external physicality so I went in for body-building. For 6-7 months I pumped iron. I really had to stretch myself and shooting the sequence was tiring but enjoyable. I hope my efforts will be appreciated. We’re talking about the sequence where you’re covered from head to toe in mud, right? What was it like being caked only in clay for the camera?
Quite an experience because the mud would dry so fast that after every shot it had to be washed off my body and a fresh coating applied. I was being covered in mud every two minutes, literally. To be honest, I was quite tense when shooting the scene. Wondering how I’d appear in photographs, on screen. But when I saw the rushes, I felt good. Even though you were near naked?
(Defensively) I had on a pair of transparent shorts. But the impression one gets is that you are completely nude. Did that make you nervous or were you blissfully unselfconscious?
I was nervous...scared. This is the first time in 23 years that I have stripped on camera. Your reaction is the very opposite of Kamal Haasan. Kamal also shed his clothing for Abhay and he wasn’t even wearing transparent shorts. But he insists that he was far from inhibited because nudity is a way of life, a part of our heritage?
Well, he’s Kamal Haasan, I’m Anil Kapoor. Nayak was shot in Ladakh, in altitudes that left most of the unit breathless. It must have been an ordeal shooting there.
Not for me because shooting in Ladakh was not new to me. I’ve been there before and I’m acclimatised to the high altitudes and the biting cold. Being so high above sea level can cause breathing problems. And the locations were very far from where we had camped so there was a lot of travelling involved. We did not want to shoot in places that Shekhar (Kapur) and Mani (Ratnam) had already tapped in their films. We were looking for unexplored terrain. Shooting in Ladakh can be physically tiring and mentally taxing but I managed to pull through, thanks to all the workouts I’d been doing. In fact, these workouts helped me all through the film. Nayak is about a common man who becomes chief minister for a day and is determined to eradicate corruption. How would you feel if you were really given a chance to run the state for 24 hours? What would be your goals?
I’d want to remove religion from politics. I’d also want to clean the system. It’s not something you can do in a day but again, a lot can be done in a day. What are your feelings about the murky cesspool that politics has become?
Whatever my feelings are have been projected into Shivaji Rao, the `hero’ of Nayak. I may be an actor but I’ve played this person with total conviction. Whatever you see on screen, be it the riots or the reactions of the chief minister, is something that’s happening everyday in real life. That’s why I found it so easy to identify and empathise with the character. There are scenes of mob violence in the film. Have you ever been caught up in a similar situation in real life?
During the Mumbai riots I’ve seen people angry and frustrated, wanting to hit out. When I was very young, living in Sion-Koliwada also I’ve seen riots happening around us. I was never really caught up in them but I know my parents went through such mob violence during the Partition. What triggers off such mad fury?
It’s generally pent-up frustration. In pre-independence India such anarchy was a reaction to autocratic dictatorship. The anger was positive. But now, more often than not, such mob violence is ignited and enticed for selfish gains. People are provoked for communal purposes, for political mileage, to overthrow a government in power. Now the anger is sick and disgusting. And can get very dangerous! So we need a real-life Shivaji Rao to save the country, the community. Where do we find him?
He’s there amongst us. We need common men, between the ages of 30-40, in positions of power. They can stem the rot. You could too if you wanted but you seem to be resolutely opposed to be being drawn into politics.
I can do my bit through the medium of my choice. This medium—films—is powerful enough in its own way and I’m in a position of power here because I’ve been accepted by the majority and am good at my job. Politics though is an entirely different ballgame. And if I jumped into it now I’d have to learn things from the grassroots. That would take at least 10-15 years and by the time I knew enough I wouldn’t have the energy to force changes. Also if I got drawn into politics now I would be contradicting myself when I say we need young people in politics. It’s not just politics that you’re opposed to. At a time when your colleagues are promoting everything from soaps and shampoos to financial institutions, you have yet to endorse a product. What’s keeping you away?
I have not done a single ad to date because without me being conscious of it, I have been preserving myself for film-makers and script-writers. I want to give myself bit by bit instead of destroying myself through over-exposure. In that case, shouldn’t you have stayed away from shows too?
Shows give me an opportunity to connect with the people directly. They help keep me alive in the minds of people. And it’s not too much exposure because I’m on stage for 20-25 minutes and then I disappear. But in those 25 minutes, I have the chance to gauge for myself what the audience likes, how they’re reacting to me on a one-to-one basis and their equation with my co-stars. Without wanting to, we are living in a cocoon, usually unaware of what is happening outside our unreal little world. Shows give us a chance to step outside, interact with real people. But of late shows abroad haven’t been pulling in the crowds. The last star concert tour in fact, had to be cancelled halfway through. Yet you are dashing off for one soon.
There can be many reasons for a show failing to take off. One of them could be because people are tired of seeing the same faces too often. I preserve myself. I do a show only every four years. This is my fifth tour abroad. The first one was with Rekha, then with Madhuri Dixit, the third with Amitabh Bachchan and Sridevi. There was another one with Amitji. All of them were phenomenally successful and I have reason to believe that this one will be too. I’m going with Aamir, Gracy and the Lagaan XI. Then there’s Preity Zinta too. We’ll draw in the crowds. You’ve finally turned producer with Badhai Ho Badhai. How do you feel?
Production may be a high for Aamir and Shah Rukh because this is the first time they’re producing a film. Though Aamir is a producer’s son and a producer’s nephew. So am I. My father, Surinder Kapoor was a producer and so is my brother, Boney. Coming from a family of producers, producing a film is nothing new for me. I’ve invested so much of my money into films before. So there’s no real excitement. The only difference between Badhai Ho Badhai and my other home productions is that like Aamir this is the first time I’ve lent my name to a project as a producer on the insistence of Subhash Ghai. There are two other producers too, Satish Kaushik and Mansoor Siddiqui. There are times when I go by the instincts of people who are my seniors. Subhashji felt I should give my name to Badhai Ho Badhai. So I did. But just because I’m co-producing Badhai Ho Badhai doesn’t make the film special. I’m giving it the same commitment, doing the role with as much conviction as I’m doing Sudhir Mishra’s Calcutta Mail. In fact, I’d say my commitment to my other projects is more. Subhash Ghai’s Mukta Arts has joined hands with you on Badhai Ho Badhai. Following the debacle of Yaadein that sent Mukta Arts’ share prices crashing, are you feeling the tremors of Ghai’s fall?
Not at all. Subhash Ghai is too big a man to be affected by a single failure. I’d think that this setback would only inspire him to make a better film and a bigger company. In fact, I think I’m too junior a person to comment on Subhashji and his career. My relationship with him is such that even after all these years I still see him as my teacher. He was my examiner when I was at Roshan Taneja’s classes. And I know that whatever happens, I’ll always see myself as Subhashji’s student. Tell us something about your other projects?
Well, there’s Anupam Kher’s Om Jai Jagdish and Sudhir Mishra’s Calcutta Mail with Manisha and Rani. Both are interesting films but it’s too early to talk about them. I’m also doing a film with Ashok Thakeria and Indra Kumar. This is the first time after Beta that Indu and I are going to be working together. Beta was a big box-office hit. It also got a lot of awards and critical acclaim. I can promise you that we’ll try to make a better film than Beta. There was a time when people laughed at you for getting too involved with your home productions, spending too much on them. How does it feel now to see other actors like Aamir, Shah Rukh, Sunny and Ajay Devgan doing the same?
I’m happy that the actor has come into the forefront as a producer. Fifteen years ago when Boney and I got caught up with our films we were called fools and manipulators. Today it’s become a fashion to get completely involved with your home productions. I see it as something positive because Boney and I are now reaping our harvests. Are you still called a manipulator?
No, now I’m sincere, honest and dedicated. —Roshmila Bhattacharya
roshmila@hotmail.com |
