From picking up an audience member’s call in the middle of his session, to going around the auditorium and asking people what they would call their biopic- Anupam Kher’s talk on ‘Giving Up Is Not A Choice’ at the 56th International Film Festival of India had something in store for each person present.
He shared personal anecdotes, all in sync with the topic. For example, in his very first film Saaransh, he was replaced even before he started shoot! “I had prepped for months, and asked Mahesh Bhatt ji ‘Why did you cast me?’ He replied ‘Bald hai na!’ because the character required and old man. After some time, I was told I have been replaced by Sanjeev Kumar. I got so angry… maine Mahesh Bhatt ko jaakar bola ‘aap duniya ke number one fraud ho. Main Brahmin hoon, main aapko shraap deta hoon!’ And I had packed my luggage onto a taxi, and stormed off downstairs after showing him the taxi, adding that I was going to leave Mumbai. Upar se Mahesh ji ne awaaz maari ‘vaapis aaja’ ! I did this because giving up was just not a choice for me.”
Years have passed by, and now Anupam is going to sign his 550th film in December, as revealed by him. “I have told all media to never address me as a veteran or thespian. That would mean ‘your career is over, now you are a veteran and should retire’, but why should anyone else decide when I should retire? This is why I have decided I will not accept any lifetime achievement award for the next 20 years,” he said.
Working with Robert de Niro
Further recalling the first time he got a chance to act alongside Robert de Niro, ‘God of acting’ for him, in Silver Linings Playbook (2012), he continued, “I remember on the first day, I went to Robert’s van, I wanted to meet him and present an idol of Lord Ganesh made of ruby. His assistant told me ‘Bob (Robert’s nickname) doesn’t meet anyone before the shot’, par main Hindustani tha, peeche padh gaya. He had to meet me. Then I was looking forward to when I would have a scene with him.”
And what happened next left everyone shocked on set. “During the scene, Robert said to the director David O. Russell ‘this guy has been the cause of my son getting drunk, he could have gone back to the mental asylum, I will throw this character out of the house’ His POV was right. What he did in the shot is, he got angry and threw me out of the room, locked the door. I was standing out in the cold, no one gave me even a sweater because de Niro had thrown me out (as part of the scene). I was there for 45 minutes.”
Anupam came back inside later to find the director saying ‘I think this is working’. “I decided mujhe kaam hi nahi karna Hollywood mein,” Anupam recalled further, “I asked for five minutes, and everyone was sitting there- Bradley Cooper, Gwyneth Paltrow was drinking something. I said ‘there are eight characters in this scene, you didn’t ask for their interpretation’ There was pin drop silence. I further said ‘My character should tell Robert’s character that you brought up your son in this manner. I further said to David ‘you had this scene in your mind for years, are you throwing me out only because Mr de Niro told you?’ Aisa lag raha tha sab barbaad hai. Robert asked for another rehearsal and this time didn’t throw me out.”
Robert later agreed with Anupam’s take after inviting him to his van post the shoot. “Today I feel proud that I can call Mr Robert de Niro one of my friends. I did all that on the shoot day because giving up was not a choice,” he beamed.
