On Anupam Kher’s birthday, reflecting on actor’s never-ending hunger to excel-Entertainment News , Firstpost

The first time that I met Anupam Kher he was rehearsing at the Shiv Sena Bhavan in Mumbai for his emcee’s role in Lataji’s live concert in Mumbai. I had gone to meet Lataji at the Bhavan and had no eyes and ears for anyone else.

“You ignored me because someone much much greater had your attention. No hard feelings. It always happens. There was a time when Mahesh Bhatt would ignore me, when he was sitting with Aamir Khan. Hota hai. You may not mean to create an emotional hierarchy in your mind space. But it happens. It cannot be helped,” Anupam explained with that matter-of-fact directness which is his USP.

When Anupam was struggling his best friend was Mahesh Bhatt, the messiah of so many wannabes. After success, Anupam’s BFF was media baron Pritish Nandy. Nowadays he hangs around with the likes of Robert de Niro who, as a rule has a meal with Anupam every birthday.

Ahem to that.

I was once very high on the list of the people Anupam liked. When we first got to know one another he said there were only two entertainment journalists whose names he knew when he came from Shimla to Mumbai to become an actor; I was flattered to be one of them. We went on to meet on several occasions. Once when he came home in Patna for lunch Anupam was accompanied by a local host. After lunch, Anupam looked with a smile at his local host and said, ‘Will you leave us alone so we can talk freely?’

I cringed I finally knew exactly what it meant when one wishes the ground to open up and swallow one wholesale. But Anupam has always been a no-bullshitter go-getter. He doesn’t hide his likes and dislikes and speaks his mind most fearlessly and without apology. This brashness is a typical non-metropolitan trait that we small towners share. It is actually a survival trick that we use to combat the competition in the concrete jungle.It took me years to realize ‘I’ll call you later’ is equivalent to ‘Fu..k off’ in Mumbai.

Anupam also learnt his harshest lessons the hard way. When he came to Mumbai from Shimla, he had no work, no home, no goals, no dignity, no one to call his own in a city about which the Urdu poet Shahryar famously wrote Seene mein jalan aankhon mein toofan sa kyon hai /Iss shaher mein har shaqs pareshaaan sa kyon hai.

Anupam lived on the streets, faced humiliation and taunts. But he was obstinate and relentless.

He once confided, “I had no choice but to keep trying. Because the only other alternative was to go back home and do what? There was nothing I could do except act. So when I finally got work, I grabbed everything that came my way. I didn’t want to let go of a single opportunity. You have to understand I had gone through hell. I was a hungry man. To me there was no difference between biryani and khichdi. I am reminded of what the great Manmohan Desai once said to me during my days of struggle when I had gone to meet him.He advised me to keep my ‘date diary'(recording the work schedules for various films) full. As long as your date diary is full, you will be respected and valued in the film industry. So keep working. So I kept doing everything that came my way. Now that has changed. In recent years my work speaks for me.”

36 years have passed since Anupam began his journey into Bollywood. The hunger to excel remains. As far as doing not-so-great work is concerned, every stage or a film artiste does work that isn’t quite up to the mark.

Anupam says, “Wisdom comes with experience. I just got tired of doing films out of a sense of insecurity. I no longer have any reason to feel insecure. That phase of grappling with my insecurities is over. However, let me reiterate. I’ve enjoyed shooting even for my bad films.”

He loves to hold forth on life and its vicissitudes. Which explains the how-to-live books he has written. Besides being an astronomically versatile actor Anupam is a sum-total of many other skills: he is an author, a talkshow host, a motivational orator ….everything except a politician which he claims he never wants to be.

“I am not cut out to be a politician. I have strong political views, of course. Every thinking Indian should. But it doesn’t mean I should join active politics. I am happy making a difference as an actor,” he says.

May your power to build on your creative juices and to use them to the last drop never diminish.

Subhash K Jha is a Patna-based film critic who has been writing about Bollywood for long enough to know the industry inside out. He tweets at @SubhashK_Jha.