Sanjay Mishra got a new lease of life as an actor after portraying a philosophical old man in Aankhon Dekhi. Other than putting him at the centre, the film also gave him a role that went beyond comedy that he was typecast in for years. As Kaamyaab, which again puts him in the centre of the story about a character actor chasing an elusive 500th role, hits the screens on Friday, Mishra talks about his life as an actor, experiences at National School of Drama and what it means for the film to be backed by Shah Rukh Khan’s Red Chillies Production.
Was it at all surprising when Shah Rukh Khan decided to come on board as a producer for Kaamyaab?
He is doing a really good work. It is something that the government should do—taking good films to the masses. But now Shah Rukh Khan is doing it and he will inspire a lot of other people, the other big names—the Bachchans, Kapoors and Khans—to follow in his footsteps by doing this. The smaller films are only small in budget. Otherwise, they are also really big, sometimes bigger [in heart] than the two crore films. Just think the kind of joy a small step like this brings to a new director like Hardik (Mehta). It is like winning a jackpot. For something like this to happen now, it's taken a long time. It should have probably happened 20-25 years earlier. Then, the reach of people like Shyam Benegal, Aziz Mirza, Ketan Mehta,and many others who made good films, would have increased. We would have had a better audience – agar darshak acche honge, toh achhe nagrik honge [we will have good citizens if we have good viewers]. We have forgotten to watch and read sensible stuff. But let’s begin now. It is never too late.
You have been in the industry for a long time now. Why do you think it has taken so much time for people to back the smaller, meaningful projects?
Cultural change takes time in politics and in cinema. Planting a mango tree does not mean that you will get ripe fruit the following day. It takes years because too many people have to be convinced that cinema does not mean only romance and bringing parents to accept respective lovers. Aur bhi gam hain zamaane mein mohabbat ki siwa [There are other worries in life besides romance]. At least at the level of cinema, people have not realised that there are more issues to be taken care of. But gradually the options are increasing. A Joker is being dubbed in Hindi and watched by millions and is being understood as well. It was in the 70s that an effort was made to bring reality to cinema and it is happening now.
But the phase in between these two is when you started working. What were your experiences?
I did not belong exactly to that in-between phase. But yes, I started in 1992 and it was the same—a hero, a heroine and all that happened in between. As far as I was concerned, I had no option. I got one-day roles and was told at the end of the day that there is no work tomorrow. I had to prove myself on every step. Every time I looked back, the only thought was that if I have come so far I would not slip down now. But then Aankhon Dekhi (2014) happened and people till date often ask me why turn away from comedy because I was always a comedy actor.
You studied at the National School of Drama. And, one is not trained to be only a comic there. How do you think you got tagged as someone who only does comedy?
It is easy. The way in a kitchen you compartmentalise boxes with tags as sugar, salt and spices, to make your job easier, I was put in the category of a comic (laughs). It happens a lot in the casting agencies for actors. Hardik has even put that in his film. Films are categorised in a way that’s easier to find actors for a certain category. But that era is coming to an end because now these character actors are becoming subjects for films. I have a huge issue with the term “character actors” though. Isn’t every actor playing a character? Why box them as hero, villain, henchman, heroine’s mother, sister and such categories.
But once you were boxed in a category, was it difficult to get out of it?
Nahi. Koi mushkil nahi tha [No, it was not difficult]. Ek din ek doctor aaya, Rajat Kapoor (director of Aankhon Dekhi). He said why have I been put in the diabetes section when I should be somewhere else. And, that was that. But a film requires a lot of investment and people don’t want to take risks. If someone suggests taking a Sanjay Mishra in a negative role, there is an immediate frown on the faces of others. They don’t see me as a person who can deliver in a negative role. Someone recently told me that the moment they see me on screen, they laugh. I asked the person if he laughed during Tanhaji as well (Mishra was a narrator in the film), and he was quiet. But he can’t be blamed because even my kids tell me that I look funny even when I am angry (laughs). Kya karein woh bhi samaaj ki hi aulaad hain. They are growing up in the same society.
Hardik told me that doing Kaamyaab brought back a lot of memories for you. That it was quite relatable…
It was (producer) Manish Mundra who told me that he is getting me something very interesting. Then, I met Hardik and realised that he has a different glow. He is new and fresh. Had Rohit Shetty gotten me Kaamyaab, he would have extracted the same thing that I have done earlier. The biggest plus of doing this film was that I was getting to explore a new director who was willing to explore a different side to me. I never read scripts. I always want the director to give me a visual narration of the story and felt that Hardik knew what he wanted to do during the narration. Kaamyaab’s story (about a character artiste chasing an elusive 500th role) is too close. I live and breathe in the same industry that the film is portraying. But there were other things that it explores; something like how there’s a life even beyond 60. Look at Amitabh Bachchan. He is such an inspiration. Even now, he goes out and works, while many of his age remain stuck to their beds. This is a story about not losing your identity and individuality. I was glad that this script came to me.
Do you have a method to getting into a character?
I do not prepare for roles. Once I get into the costumes I know what I have to do. I hear the scripts and then it is only on the set that I figure what I have to do. Signing on a new film is like a wedding for me. Once I get to know who I am going to be married to, I take a backseat and Mustafa (his manager) figures out the details like the dates and everything else. I remember how we had done Noh theatre (Japanese musical drama) in NSD. In the Japanese performance, the artistes keep wearing the mask for many hours. It is a slow theatre. They prepare for 17-18 years for it. But during the NSD performance, we had got a month. A drum, a flute came and people were chosen randomly. It was an adaptation and we did not realise when the slow theatre picked up speed. Then final performance in front of a huge group from the Japanese Embassy was completely Indian-ised with fast drumbeats and faster pace. That’s the training that has happened over years. How then do you prepare for a role?
I remember the day we wrapped up Kaamyaab and everyone else was preparing for the wrap-up party, five people came to pick me up to be on another film set. I got out of the Kaamyaab costumes and was ready for another role in Dhamaal. That’s how it is. It is difficult then for any character to stay with me for long. But something like Aankhon Dekhi remained because even after a year, I felt that what the guy was saying in the film was very true. Kaamyaab’s character, on the other hand, has been inherently growing for the last 26 years.