Actress Saiyami Kher, in this forced pause that the lockdown has brought, has gone back to reading classic plays and working on her voice. She hopes that with the improved skill set, she gets to do more work that she wants to do. And she is hopeful it will only work well for her with Anurag Kashyap’s Choked: Paisa Bolta Hai on Netflix having released in this period. Choked sees her as a simpleton bank clerk, Sarita, which is a stark contrast compared to her earlier glamourous image created by her debut film Mirzya (2016). Kher is optimistic that people in the film industry will take note of her versatility and offer her a variety that has been difficult to come by earlier. At the moment, she already has two projects in the pipeline – Amazon Prime Video’s Breathe season 2 along with Abhishek Bachchan, and a Telugu film with Nagarjuna (with 20 days of shoot pending).
A few days before the release of Choked, she spoke to The Week about her character Sarita, the struggles of becoming an actor in an industry that easily stereotypes, and pleasures of working with Anurag Kashyap.
You put on weight to portray Sarita?
I did. I put on around eight to 10 kilos. I had to play someone older than my age and I wanted to make it as authentic as I could. It was a big opportunity in my career, which I wanted to grab with both hands.
Were you apprehensive of playing an older part?
There’s a long story behind this film. Anurag sir offered it to me in 2017 when we met at the Mumbai Film Festival. The offer came at a time when Mirzya had released and hadn’t done too well. I was supposed to start on another film, but was replaced by a more saleable actor. The roles that were being offered to me at the time were the ones I was not too attracted to. Everyone, for some reason, which I don’t know, had this idea of a very glamorous image around me. People thought I would do two songs and five scenes in a film. That was it. Those were the films that did not get me very excited. Perhaps, that is the reason I did not take them up.
When Anurag sir offered this to me, I read the script as an audience. I was completely glued to the script. It was a story about a middle-class Maharashtrian house. Since I am a Maharashtrian, I could relate to it a lot. I could see [characters that reminded me of] my childhood, my neighbours. We are so used to seeing the north of India, the Punjabi lifestyle; we haven’t seen too much of Bombay. We have seen the gangster world of Bombay, but not the day-to-day life of the city. Sarita’s character, on its own, was very strong. The film is driven by her. She goes through so much – love, anger, greed – all of those emotions. Anurag sir gave me the option to decide whether I want to do the film or not. He told me it is not going to be a glamorous role, that I would be playing a mother… I cut him short and agreed to do it immediately. For me, it did not matter. I did not think that I would be categorised in a certain way. The only thing I thought of was the meaty part I am going to play. I just hope that people take me seriously after this role and offer me interesting parts to play.
You spoke about people perceiving you as a two-song, five scene actor. While the Hindi film industry is infamous for stereotyping, did you personally ever try and analyse why it happened?
I am not too sure, but Anurag sir’s analysis is that [it is because of] the certain way I looked during Mirzya, the styling in the film, or even the way I look – I mean I have green eyes and curly hair, I am not faking it. But just the way I was styled for public events, awards, or any such social event, there was glam associated with it. I was pictured as that. The second time I met Anurag sir, I was wondering why he offered me the film. He told me that the image I have, I am not that girl. I asked him why he thinks that and he said that I am still that girl from Nashik and not a Bollywood diva. He is obviously much more experienced than I am and I agreed to his analysis.
You were talking about the Bombay life not being reflected too well in Hindi films. The film, however, is about a very distinct economic class that lives in the chawls. The representation, at least in the recent Hindi films, is either of the lowest denominator or the upper class. It’s seldom this economic category. How did you understand the essence of your character?
You very correctly put it. We either see the really poor and we see them as in Slumdog Millionaire, which we are not. Or, then we are portrayed as the rich and fancy, which again we are not. The major population is what Choked is about. That’s what the major population of India also is. Personally, I have grown up in Nashik in a small town atmosphere where there are very poky neighbours. In Mumbai when you go to areas like Mahim, Girgaon, Dadar, the pockets of very Maharashtrian places, that is how people live. They would be interested in the vegetables you have bought and poke their nose in everything. Somewhere I feel that Nihit Bhave has put that very nicely in the film. He himself wrote the film while commuting on a local. He was not sitting in an air-conditioned room in [the restaurant] Olive and writing it. That shows in the film. That writing helped me in a big way.
Of course then there’s Anurag Kashyap’s style of filmmaking. Besides, my grandmum had passed away, around two years ago, and we had to constantly go to the government bank to complete some formalities. I accompanied my mother often. It was at that time I saw a lady behind the counter who was so frustrated with the barrage of requests she was getting from the customers. There was another lady who used to come on her scooter to the bank. After a few days, I started going to the bank to notice her. I got lucky to chat with her about how it was during demonetisation and she said, “I don’t even want to get there” because she was so frustrated. The rest came from Anurag sir and Nihit.
People who work with Anurag Kashyap often talk about learning a lot from him…
And he does that very unintentionally. He is never like this person who is carrying the weight of being a big filmmaker. I did not know him personally at all. The image you make of a person is through his films or through social media, or his interviews. For some reason, I used to think ‘oh, he is a really dark filmmaker, and very intense’. I was a little intimidated by his persona. When I met him, he was just so non-filmy and so normal. I got so comfortable. I got along with him instantly. Eventually, I developed immense respect for him because it is rare that people in the film industry promise you something and keep the promise. He promised me a film in 2017 and stuck to his words. It wasn’t easy for him to get money on Roshan Mathew and Saiyami Kher’s name because the industry works in a certain way. With respect to the learning on set, he very simply put it: “tum actor log bahot complex karte ho maamle ko. Simple rakho. You come on set, be in the moment and let your instincts take over. Don’t over prepare. Don’t give yourself too much importance. Everyone is doing their part – from the art team, the camera team, and you are also just playing a part”.
I wish actors realise that one is just playing a part. He is also somebody who wants people under him to flourish. He is not somebody who would want to cut your wings. Maybe that is why you see his protégés like Vasan Bala or Neeraj Ghaywan turn into amazing directors. He is extremely non-filmy and not egoistical at all. There were times I told him why Sarita would say something like this that sounds like Anurag Kashyap. He would come back later and say, “You are right”. It takes a lot for a man to realise that.
You have struggled for long. How do you look at your career now?
The struggle began much before Mirzya. For almost four years, I auditioned and auditioned to finally get Mirzya. But there is not one thing I would want to change about that. That was a big learning. Rakesyh sir (Omprakash Mehra) and Gulzar sir became like family. There is not one thing in the clock I would change and say that, “I shouldn’t have done that”. After that, it was a different kind of struggle. But [what I have learnt is that] being an actor is not easy at all. People often say, “arrey, they have so much money”, or “they are so successful”, but they don’t see what goes behind a Kartik Aaryan success.
There’s a lot that has gone behind that person reaching where he is today. Not that I have done too much in my career, but I really feel that if you want to be an actor, you should pursue the craft and not run after success. If you are destined to be successful, you will get it. What Nawaz sir has done is he has pursued his craft and has got recognition on the back of that. I went back to Adil Hussain, who is my teacher, and work-shopped with him whenever he had time. I really enjoyed it. The insecurities are definitely there when your peers and your friends, not from the film industry, have a stable income and life. You wonder about your choices. But if you can manage to go after your craft, it eventually pays in some way or the other.
