Lasyapriya Sundaram (BOMBAY TIMES; January 8, 2019)

Akshaye Khanna has always made a mark with his performances. He started out as the quintessential leading man, but over the years, he not only impressed in supporting roles but also in characters that required him to play the anti-hero. Not one to follow the norm, when Akshaye’s films didn’t work, he took a break and took time off to find his way back,which he eventually did, but only with roles that challenged him as an actor. With The Accidental Prime Minister, the actor is all set to play a real-life character. In a candid chat with BT, Akshaye talks about why a political film needs to be made and released in India, why he never intellectualises acting and also elaborates on how acting is an insecure profession. Excerpts...

In The Accidental Prime Minister, you play Sanjaya Baru, media advisor to the then Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh. The trailer of the film shows you saying, “I don’t work for the party, I work for the Prime Minister.” Also, your character comes across as a cunning man. Looks like you had a lot of fun playing this role...
Yes, I did. Through the years, I have realised that when you have had fun playing a role, it comes across on screen. Even today, if you watch Dil Chahta Hai (2001), you will sense that we had a blast making it. Talking about The Accidental Prime Minister, my character is like that ingredient — salt. Politics has friendship, enmity, intrigue and even humour.

This film also has a lot of humour, which mostly comes through my character. The time I spent making this film with my director Vijay (Gutte) was enriching, and I think that it has made me a better actor. It is a role that he wrote for me. Sanjaya Baru was not as well known as Sonia Gandhi or Manmohan Singh. So, this was the only character which the director could create. All the other characters are real people. Vijay is a visual director. He had a clear image of what he wanted me to look like and people have seen that in the promo. If people like my performance in the film, I would give a lot of credit to my director.

You have been part of romances, dramas, action films as well as comedies. As an actor, when you are offered a film that belongs to the genre of political dramas, do you feel challenged, excited and even scared? Do you worry about the repercussions it might have?
When I first read the script, I sensed that it’s an important film in terms of how and why we haven’t made authentic political films in our country for all these years, despite being the largest democracy in the world. Had we not been the largest democracy, this question would have been slightly less significant. We need to be able to make all kinds of cinema. We have made films on Gandhi in the past, even I have made a film on Gandhi (Gandhi, My Father, 2007). Our constitution gives us freedom of speech and expression, and it is about time films like these are made. People should have the freedom to watch or not watch it. However, I was very unhappy with that draft because of the way my role had been fleshed out. I had a meeting with Vijay and I told him that it’s a fabulous script... it is an important film and he must make it. But I also told him that I didn’t like my role and I won’t do it. He then asked me about my thoughts on the role, and then I explained to him that the way I see it, the role has far more scope and potential. I told him to take as much time as he wanted because I wanted to be part of such a film. Vijay and Mayank (Tewari, writer) reworked the script, and what they came back with was something that I loved. Having said that, its good to be on the same page with your director, but it doesn’t mean that he has to take my permission for everything, because he is operating on a much larger vision. One must respect that; it is that vision that allows him to make the film. If a director has not already seen the film in his mind, chances are less that he will make a good film.

Over the years, even when films have been panned, you have always been praised for your performance. Can you give us an insight into your craft?
I don’t think about acting. When someone starts a conversation about acting, I move back because I have never intellectualised it. Acting comes naturally to me. I read the script as many times as I need to read it. That’s about it, and then I am on the set. Till the clap is given, even I don’t know what I am going to do. I give myself a basic outline of how I will do it, but I don’t know what I am going to do. Whether it is magic or utter crap, it is for the director to decide.

You have acted in a war film like Border (1997), a romance like Aa Ab Laut Chalen (1999), a film that explored friendship like Dil Chahta Hai (2001), thrillers like Humraaz (2002) and Race (2008),a comedy like Hulchul (2004) and biographical drama like Gandhi, My Father.Was there a method to the way you chose your films?
There has never been, but I can understand why that question is asked. There are some actors who have a method in the way they choose their films. If you see my filmography, the choices are random and there is no pattern to it. I don’t have a great body of work, but I have decent body of work. You can’t join the dots. My selection of scripts depends on instinct. Sometimes, my instincts are right and sometimes they are not. That’s all we have as professional artistes. We can consult others, but it’s only our gut that can tell us. After working for many years, that instinct gets honed.

Post Race (the first installment of the franchise), your films didn’t work. It was clearly a lull period for you as an actor…
Many of my films didn’t work. It was a lull period and there is no doubt about that. Why on earth would I even attempt to deny that? It’s a period that I wish not to dwell upon because it was a very unhappy one, but that is behind me now. When life throws tough challenges at you, then you need to sit back and absorb them. If you are unable to handle the situation, it’s unfortunate. Until a few days back, I was in a happy space. Life hits you hard again, but one has to go through it. Time is a great healer.

Do you think that today, because of the kind of films that are being made, you are getting the opportunity to play better roles as opposed to the 1990s, or even the early 2000s?
It’s a difficult question to answer. With time, everything evolves. As an individual too, one must evolve, especially being an artiste. Getting stagnant as an artiste can be dangerous. The tragedy of being an actor is that no matter how good or talented you may think you are, without a good script and director, you are nothing. That’s why it’s a unique art form in that sense. Filmmaking is a collaborative art form; individually you are zero, until everything around you is perfect. Acting is an insecure profession because you can’t do anything on your own. How a director uses an actor is the biggest gift that a director can give to an actor. See how Brian De Palma has used Al Pacino in Scarface (1983). Over the years, people have continued to allow me to be part of cinema. Every artiste has a lifespan. The artiste never knows when that day will come when the audience says, ‘We don’t want to watch him anymore’. I have gratitude in my heart because people still want to watch me.

You lost your mother last year. That must have a difficult period...
Losing both parents in a short period of time has been very tough. My mother was a very private person. If I speak about her on any public platform, she will not approve of it. So, I would like to respect that.