Rachit Gupta (BOMBAY TIMES; April 15, 2018)

Sudhir Mishra and Rahul Bhat are perfect examples of a filmmaker and an actor being distinctly different, yet seamlessly compatible. While Mishra made his foray into filmmaking during the onset of parallel movies in the ’80s, Rahul burst onto the scene in the new millennium. Yet, the two share a unique rapport. Both love politics and view cinema as a medium of art and not just mart. No surprises then, that they have joined hands to make DaasDev. The film, they say, is a “reverse engineered version” of Devdas. In an exclusive chat with BT, the two mercurial artistes trash out their ideals of cinema. Excerpts…

Sudhir Mishra calls you a chameleon. How do you react to that, Rahul?
Sudhir Mishra: Once you get to know him, you’ll find it hard to believe that he played a loser in Ugly, because he is very different in real life. I think his character in DaasDev is closer to his real self — a slightly arrogant person with a devil-may-care attitude.
Rahul Bhat: Achcha, chameleon ke saath saath, arrogant bhi bol diya (laughs!).
SM: Isse toh aata hi nahi sahi baat bolna. Ye kucch bhi, kahin bhi bol deta hai. We’ll be at a party together, aur yeh kisi bhi bade aadmi ko kuchh bhi bol dega. He can only interact with people like us, people who don’t strut around thinking they are Gods. Unfortunately, chaar filmein chal jaati hai toh, most people in the industry think that they are Gods.
RB: I’ve been like this since childhood. I can’t change myself in real life, but I am more than willing to do so for a film. That’s my job as an actor. My eccentricities as a person may result in me losing out on work, but then, I get to work with acclaimed filmmakers like Sudhir sir, Anurag Kashyap and Prakash Jha sir. They don’t give two hoots about my behaviour, and appreciate me as an actor. What more can I ask for?

Which quality of Rahul as an actor has impressed you the most?
SM: He just gives himself to the part. The best actors are the most transparent ones, they don’t obstruct the storytelling process. In our industry, we like people who do drama. So, the film takes a pause and you admire the actor’s histrionics on the screen. The hallmark of good actors is that you realise that they did a fabulous job only after the film is over. Rahul has that ability, he’s an actor who can work selflessly for the film. Another common scenario in our films is the hero saying, ‘Maine heroine ko bachaya, maine gaadi chalayi, main pahad pe chadha, main bura aadmi nahin ban sakta’... The moment an actor says these things, he ceases to be an actor.

Rahul, you’ve already worked with acclaimed filmmakers like Anurag Kashyap, Prakash Jha and Abhishek Kapoor. How different was Sudhir’s approach towards filmmaking?
RB: Just before Ugly went on floors, I was talking to Anurag and praising him to the skies. He then told me, ‘I would like to see you work with Sudhir Mishra’. He then added that there are directors who help liberate actors. ‘Har actor ka ek dhakkan hota hai. And some filmmakers have the knack of uncorking and setting him free,’ he said. At that point, I couldn’t grasp what he said. But after working with Sudhir sir for about 10 days, Anurag’s words started making sense to me. Now, I’ve learnt to use my craft to its full potential.

Were the two of you apprehensive about comparisons with Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Devdas and Bimal Roy’s 1955 classic with Dilip Kumar playing the title role? Even Anurag Kashyap did a spin on Devdas with Dev.D...
SM: I have taken the essence of the original novel, i.e. the relationship between Dev and Paro as well as the one between him and Chandramukhi, to a certain extent. However, I have placed them in a totally different context. My film should not be seen as another version of Devdas, it should be treated like a film loosely inspired by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay’s novel. I loved Anurag’s version, too. For me, this story is about addiction to power. How Dev becomes obsessed with power and then he liberates himself, encompassing the journey of daas to dev. Similarly, a modern woman like Paro fights injustice, but she too gets addicted to power. Chandni (Chandramukhi) is manipulative and wants to extract something for herself. It’s essentially a story of our times. It’s an observation of the lust for power. In that way, it’s also slightly Shakespearean.

Your films always have a strong undertone of politics and reality. Are they your perennial inspirations?
SM: I’d like to think that all my films talk about something new. I feel Chameli is different from Yeh Saali Zindagi, which is different from Inkaar. I try and put myself in a new situation every time, and make every film like it’s my debut. My attempt is to evoke new reactions and emotions, and in the process, perhaps discover something new about myself. Even I don’t know the kind of film I’ll end up with when I start making it. There’s a reason why I’m not making Hazaron Khwaishein 2 or 3. That’s what most modern filmmakers do — they make the same film over and over again, and just keep camouflaging it.

What were the conversations on the sets of DaasDev about? Love or politics?
SM: Love has a lot to do with politics.
RB: Yeah, love is political.
SM: A lot of things were said, a lot of things that we can’t reveal (laughs!).
RB: A lot of things we shouldn’t reveal (laughs!).
SM: Rahul has suffered politically, as he comes from Kashmir. Given the circumstances they come from, most Kashmiri have strong political views.
RB: Yeah, Kashmiri pandits are sometimes more political than they should be. (laughs!) But I have never wanted to play the card that I am a Kashmiri pandit and that I am a victim of a situation. I am an actor and I belong to Mumbai. I’m more of a Mumbaikar than a Kashmiri pandit.

DaasDev has an ensemble cast of acclaimed actors. Rahul, as an actor, do you view it as a situation of fierce competition? Also, how does a filmmaker control so many actors?
RB: With established and talented actors is always a challenge. You’ve to be on your toes and that’s quite an interesting experience. Ensemble cast ke saath kaam karne mein maza toh bahut aata hai.
SM: Acting is not a wrestling match, all actors share the dais in a film. A good actor will always raise the bar for others and make his co-stars perform better. I believe that it’s a fantastic environment to work in. It can be an enriching experience.
RB: No actor is perfect, be it Naseeruddin Shah, who is my favourite actor, or even Robert De Niro. There’s no actor who was perfect in all the films he did. They are great in some movies and not so good in others. That’s how an actor’s career pans out. Which is why, when people ask me what I look for in a film before signing it, I don’t talk about my co-stars or the script. All I say is that the director should be good. If the director is good, the story will be good, the choice of actors will be good and eventually, the film will also be good.

Who makes or breaks a film? The actors or the director?
RB: Cinema is a director’s medium. No actor can make or break a film. Yes if you’re a star, you have a stronger influence, but that’s because you keep making the same kind of films over and over again.
SM: From the director’s perspective, an actor is very important. Even the smallest actor contributes to a film immensely. In DaasDev, the characters of journalists are played by real journalists, because that’s the only way to ensure authenticity. No actor will be able to fill that space. So, I always keep a mix of actors and non-actors in my films.
RB: There’s a journalist in DaasDev who says, ‘Aisi kaun si davai khayi thi bees saal pehle, jo aapko bees saal purani ghatna yaad aa gayi’. No actor on this planet could say that line the way that guy has said it in the film. He says the line with such nonchalance that only a real journalist can pull it off. Anybody else will just make a fool of themselves.

Do actors and directors share a love-hate relationship?
SM: I love working with good actors, because I can trust them blindly. That’s the reason why I cast Saurabh Shukla in all my films. I know that I can just put him in a scene and he’ll handle it well. At times, I would give the other actors the exact lines that they have to speak. But with Saurabh, I just give him the gist of the scene and let him fill in the gaps. Such actors are the biggest asset for any filmmaker.
RB: What better compliment for an actor than to have the filmmaker say that he can be trusted blindly. But having said that, it’s not easy to work with filmmakers like Anurag and Sudhir sir, because you have no idea what could happen on the set. One day, they’ll just show up with random ideas plucked out of thin air. You’ll have no inkling as to how to react to their demands.
SM: Sometimes, we’re not the nicest people on the set (laughs). Filmmakers are like Jekyll and Hyde. We can suddenly turn into monsters on the sets.
RB: The good thing about working with mercurial filmmakers is that they’re always on the lookout for something new. Filmmakers like Sudhir sir and Anurag are always looking to create magic. They are not the kind of people who will simply shoot a scene, they will keep pushing the envelope till they create something wonderful and magical.