Renuka Vyavahare (BOMBAY TIMES; January 11, 2019)

While negative roles seemed to be his forte, it didn’t take long for filmmakers to tap into his versatility. Hailing from a theatre background, Paresh Rawal continues to be one of our finest actors to date. In a chat with Bombay Times, he speaks about his upcoming film URI: The Surgical Strike, his dual role as an actorpolitician and his film being touted as a propaganda movie. Excerpts...

There was speculation that URI might turn out to be a pro-government propaganda film. You are also a BJP MP. What’s your take on that?
The government hasn’t backed the film. Jo hai woh dikhaya hai. What’s the propaganda in that? Whatever has been shown, army ne woh kar dikhaya hai. Agar ussme kisiki waah waah hoti hai toh kya burai hai? Agar unhone achcha kaam kiya hai toh waah waah bhi nahi kar sakte? What kind of logic is that? If this would have happened during Congress’ rule and a film was made then, would people still say this? Some people even say that the surgical strike never happened. These talks only demean, malign and tarnish the image of the Indian Army.

Consciously or subconsciously, do your political views influence the roles you choose today?
Not at all. I look at a character strictly as a character. My offscreen views and roles don’t clash with my onscreen performances. Of course, I won’t play a character jissey meri country ko nuksaan ho and one which could hurt the sentiments of the citizens of India. Lot of people feel that politics is the reason why acting has taken a back seat in my life, but that’s not true. I am waiting for the right scripts. I would love to work with young actors and filmmakers. There’s still so much to learn.

What according to you is the essence of Uri, the film?
Yeh naya Hindustan hai, yeh Hindustan chup nahi bethega. After 26/11, the army had given a proposal that we should go across the border and shoot down the bases (terrorist camps), but that proposal was shot down by our then government. Itna sab kuch ho gaya. Woh Mumbai tak aa gaye, uskey baad bhi we didn’t do much. So, a strong political will is important. Coming back to Uri, the way the army handled this operation with such precision and sharp planning, is commendable. I feel for the soldiers, for them it’s like ‘border pe dushmanon ki goli khao, aur desh mein deshwasiyon ki gaali khao’. Unka bhi toh hausla badhna chahiye.

Aditya Dhar, the director of the film has said that URI is not anti-Pakistan, but anti-terrorism. Do you agree?
I hate jingoistic cinema, which unnecessarily indulges in Pakistan bashing. In URI, hum army ke jazbey ki baat kar rahe hain. That mission was the victory of the skill and bravery of the army and of strong political will, too. I feel army bashing has become fashionable today. Log anaap shanaap kehte hai. It’s fine to criticise the government, you are welcome to do that, but criticising your army and country, woh bahut hi dukhad baat hai. You are playing with fire. We are fortunate that our army believes in democratic values. Jis haalat mein woh kaam kartey hain, usko toh samajhiye aap. For instance, just think about what happened with Major Gogoi.

You are talking about the debatable 2017 incident where Indian Army reportedly used a human shield (Kashmiri man Farooq Ahmed Dar was tied to a jeep as a ‘human shield’ against protesters by Major Nitin Leetul Gogoi) to stop stone pelters in Kashmir?
Agar bandey ne goli chala di hoti toh kitna carnage ho jata. Usney dimaag lagaya, ek bande ko bandh diya aur gaadi chala di. That was a trick to leave the place tactfully. Agar aapki war alag kisam ki ho, toh aapko bhi improvise karna padta hai. You have to think of innovative ways to defend yourself.

In Sanju, you played Sunil Dutt, in URI, your character is based on Ajit Doval (the current National Security Advisor to the Prime Minister of India). Is it more challenging to play real-life characters on screen?
I have met Ajit Doval a few times at the PMO. He is a superhero. He has such a discreet, unassuming kind of personality and yet, he’s doing such heroic work. Uske liye jigra chahiye. While playing real-life characters, pressure hota hai, but you shouldn’t fall into the trap of mimicking the people you portray. When we were doing Sardar (the 1993 biopic on Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel), prosthetics was an issue as the technique wasn’t fully developed back then. I am talking about the early 90s. So, Ketan Mehta (the director) and I decided to let it be. If you are playing Sardar Patel, you have to behave like him. Even if you don’t ‘look’ exactly like Patel, it’s fine, as long as there is some resemblance. I feel mimicking someone makes your performance caricaturish. You have to capture the spirit of the character. That’s more important. The same thing happened with Sanju, as well. I told the makers, ‘Kitna bhi prosthetics karlo, main ulta bhi latak jaoon, toh bhi main Sunil Dutt nahi dikhunga’. So, I aimed at focusing on the psyche of a father. It will be expected that you look like the character you play, but you shouldn’t get sucked into that trap.

Many believed that Sanju whitewashed the story of Sanjay Dutt.
Koi whitewash nahi kiya tha. If it had been made before Sanjay’s court verdict, one would have said it’s to impress the judiciary. He served his sentence and everything that was shown was in the public domain. Beta bigda hua tha — we showed that. Rajkumar Hirani and Abhijat Joshi are honest. They won’t resort to such things.

Speaking of biopics, you were supposed to play PM Narendra Modi. Is that film still going to happen? Vivekanand Oberoi (Vivek Oberoi) is also slated to play Narendra Modi in a biopic. There was speculation that you backed out, since the film will speak of the Gujarat riots and you wouldn’t want to be a part of that.
Let anyone do what they want to do or say what they want to say. We are making that film and I am playing that role. It is not shelved. There can be multiple films on Modi. He’s that kind of a personality.

Do you think the roles that were offered to you at the beginning of your career did justice to your talent?
Agar main yehi sochta rehta toh mujhe koi roles nahi miltey. The negative characters that were offered to me initially were all third-grade villains. Very rarely was I offered a wellwritten negative role. How to then make those roles palatable or relatable was my prime concern. That’s why I started giving an amusing twist to whatever characters were offered to me. Yehi meri koshish rehti thi. Also, kisne socha tha ke villain ke roles karte karte, mujhe Sardar Patel ka role mil jayega. People warned Ketan Mehta against casting me as I was stereotyped. But, directors like him put their faith in me and believed that I was a good actor, irrespective of the roles that I was known for playing. I was fortunate that Bhatt saab (Mahesh Bhatt) offered me a film like Sir (1993). That was the turning point in my career. I did Tamanna (1998) after that. These films proved that I could act well.

Of all the characters you played, the comic roles you essayed in movies like Andaz Apna Apna(1994) and Hera Pheri (2000) have stayed with people the most.
When you are doing something, you don’t realise that it might turn out to be a cult character. You just attempt it with all your honesty. In fact, during Hera Pheri, I distinctly remember that no one laughed during its trial show and that had us worried. The producer was petrified. Priyadarshan was clear that if my character (Babu Bhaiyya) doesn’t click, the film will flop and nothing would be able to salvage it. I improvised a lot and since I come from theatre, it was easy. When we were shooting for Andaz Apna Apna, Rajkumar Santoshi would enact and show us what he expected and he was hilarious. He is a fantastic actor. Itni innocence thi unkey narration mein, it was fun to bring out his imagination to the screen. I feel that if you over-plan as an actor, it doesn’t work.

Your film clashes with The Accidental Prime Minister at the box office, which is another political drama.
These films will open doors in the country for good political thrillers. Why can’t we create content like JFK, Zero Dark Thirty or Frost/Nixon? We can also make these kind of films. Content is the king today. Look at Rajkummar Rao, Ayushmann Khurrana, Vicky Kaushal... they are all doing content-driven cinema. I wish such films were made when I was younger. I think Dil Chahta Hai (2001) and Lagaan (2001) changed the game in Bollywood. They paved the way for contentdriven films.