The actor talks about why he loves theatre, but does more films instead, how nostalgia drives his love for trains and more...
Sarita A Tanwar (DNA; May 25, 2016)


You still travel by train between Delhi and Chandigarh. Don’t you get mobbed?
Shatabdi Express has two bogies of executive class. I think most of the ministers and VIPs of the region, travel in business class. So people are used to that and they don’t hound you that much. And of course, in some case they’ll take pictures, five-10 minutes and then they’ll do their own thing.

Why do you like this mode of transport?
I love train travel for the sake of nostalgia. My mother is from Delhi and we used to travel by Shatabdi Express during summer vacations. There is Pashchim Express and Rajdhani Express. I know a lot of trains by their names. Even when I was doing theatre, I used to travel from Chandigarh to Mumbai and there was this train called Punjab Mail which I used to travel by.

That’s the slowest train in the world.
It takes 42 hours from Delhi and it stops at every nondescript station. I remember coming to Mumbai for Mood Indigo, we 10-15 bunch of boys with dholak and guitars for street plays and we used to sing for the passengers, travelling from bogey to bogey and we used to collect money. We used to collect so much money that after finishing the concert, we used to sponsor our Goa trips with that money. Also, I think when you travel by trains, you listen to music clearly. You know travelling by air, I think more people watch movies to kill the time. You connect better with music when you are on a train. This is another reason why I prefer travelling by train.

Do you miss theatre, any plans to return?
There is this logic to it. Theatre is for the soul, not for the stomach. In India, you don’t get paid very well as a theatre actor. Hats off to those people who are following this passion without any material gains. They are the purer souls who believe that theatre is bigger, which it is. Theatre is bigger than cinema because it’s a live medium. You get instant reactions from the audience. Like in films, whatever you shoot for, you can see it. Then the critics watch it and reviews follow. But on stage, it’s right in front of you. You get to know whether it’s working or not.

How does it feel being on stage?
I think, the first performance is the most jittery one. One is so nervous about how people are going to react. After 10 performances, you feel you will be able to do it but every time you go on stage, you feel slightly nervous. That nervous energy is very important. It gets converted into a good performance.

I’m sure the performance is never the same. That little things change...
Of course, every single time. I don’t know why, but you get slightly conscious when there are theatre actors sitting there in front. In front of the janta, it is easy. You also become slightly conscious and with repeat audiences also. They know what’s going to happen.

You have done plays in Hindi. You are bi-lingual like Amitabh Bachchan.
I am a huge fan of Bachchan Saab.... I think even for the FICCI Frames, I delivered the entire seminar in Hindi. I began with ‘Shrotaon ko namaskar’. I studied English Literature but in college I did public speaking in Hindi. There was this Akhil Bhartiya Vaad Vivadh Pratyogita in Delhi, I got third prize in that. I was the only one from the English department, rest were all from the Hindi department.

Any other bi-linguals in your family?
My mom is MA in Hindi, so it comes from her as well. She does not know Punjabi. My mom is half-Burmese, half-Punjabi but she stayed in Delhi. Her mom was Burmese aur unko sirf Burmese hi aati thi, thodi tooti-phooti Hindi bhi. My dad speaks Punjabi. My dad speaks Punjabi in Hindi, my dad speaks Hindi with a Punjabi accent. So by default meri dono languages achchi ho gayi.