Anand Gandhi (MID-DAY; August 25, 2017)

Culture is the sieve of the civilization in which we put data, wisdom and epiphanies of the past, and the present, to distill solutions for the future. We can't solve our problems as a society if we censor speech and discourage open sharing of truths. In a community that's increasingly polarised between those who want to learn, and those who want to avoid witnessing the truth, odds are stacked against the lonely truth seeker, the documentary filmmaker. That is exactly what makes the achievement of filmmakers Khushboo Ranka and Vinay Shukla, directors of the political documentary, An Insignificant Man, inspiring.

Khushboo and Vinay wanted to make a documentary about the democratic process because they wanted to know how our democracy works, and record the tryst between idealism and pragmatism, intention and hypocrisy, and integrity and compromise. They wanted to render the veils around political parties permeable, so that we could witness what is going on inside.

Of the three political parties they requested access to, only one agreed to let them in with cameras. That was the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). For a year, the cameras rarely missed a beat, rolling through meetings, campaign planning sessions, rallies, strategy discussions, back offices, arguments, fallouts, in their homes, and even while they travelled. Always a fly on the wall, observant, yet distant.

The material they collected was overwhelming. This made the community that supported the producing of the documentary in a highly successful crowdfunding campaign, a bit restless. But, their trust in the filmmakers never faltered. Khushboo and Vinay found support from a truth seeking audience, from both sides of the political spectrum — left and right.

One day, I was invited to a screening of An Insignificant Man (AIM). What I saw, left me enthralled. I cannot think of another film that shows us real politicians, doing politics. It doesn't patronise the viewer with a pedantic voiceover, but instead, allows him to witness an incredible moment in Indian politics.

I have seen Khushboo and Vinay struggle as first-time filmmakers in India. The contrast of their journey in India and internationally, could not be more stark. The film won fund awards from Sundance, Busan, IDFA and BritDoc. Toronto International Film Festival invited AIM for its world premiere. Festivals, awards, accolades, standing ovations and nuanced critiques unraveled. We started gearing up to show the film to the part of the world, we call home.

Enter, Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC). In his astute wisdom, the former CBFC chief (Pahlaj Nihalani) decided, quite arbitrarily, that a piece of journalistic document needs "permission" from its political subjects. Also, in a dire misreading of his position, he thought it prudent to defend the Congress and the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) from their names being taken in the film. He would rather a documentary invent fictitious names like Mogambo and Dogaraj for politicians, perhaps.

After having waited for months outside the chief's office, and then being thrown out, Khushboo and Vinay chose to approach the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal (FCAT). The FCAT judgment is out, and sanity has finally prevailed. The judgment says that a demand for a No Objection Certificate is "wholly unsustainable and not permissible at law."

It's dangerous that the Censor Board can act in an illegal way. Consequences are only meant for filmmakers, who are testing the small mercies of freedom. With the recent reconstitution of the Board, things look hopeful. As long as dialogue is not threatened by violence, and discourse is not silenced by censorship, there is always hope for a better future.

Moving out of the periphery of pop culture consciousness, Jaaved Jaaferi hits the reset button again as the star of Monsoon Wedding’s recent musical
Shaikh Ayaz (MUMBAI MIRROR; August 13, 2017)

"The point is, I was the last one on.” Jaaved Jaaferi’s booming voice, instantly recognisable thanks to his various avatars over the years as a film actor, funnyman, dancer and TV host, ricochets in his 17th floor apartment in Lokhandwala complex. “They had three workshops over the past year and a half. Everybody knew what they had to do. I didn’t. So, when I landed in New York I was totally raw, and, kind of, nervous. This is the first time I was doing a full-fledged musical. Eight shows a week.” He feigns exhaustion.

Jaaferi has recently returned from the US, having acted in the musical version of Mira Nair’s 2001 cult film Monsoon Wedding. The musical premiered at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre in California and will travel to Broadway next year. Last seen on Hindi screens as a flamboyant baddie opposite Hrithik Roshan in Bang Bang! three years ago, Jaaferi plays Lalit in the musical, the role of the bride’s father, made memorable by Naseeruddin Shah in the original.

To conjure Lalit, Jaaferi didn’t revisit Monsoon Wedding. He wanted to avoid “the whole Naseer bhai influence.” Instead, he says he channelled his inner Tevye, the Yiddish daddy from his favourite Hollywood musical, Fiddler On The Roof. As an actor, he usually starts with a point of reference — “to refer your character to something in real life.” For instance, in the 2007 comedy Dhamaal — his most prominent mainstream success yet, alongside 2005’s Salaam Namaste — he dropped his baritone completely to assume the voice of a 10-yearold.

His character Manav was a dungaree-clad, beret-sporting man-child with a penchant for getting his friends and himself into trouble. “When you play a character you try to make a new person, which obviously incorporates the way he walks, thinks, and the voice. For Manav, I took on the demeanour of Laurel & Hardy and the slouch. I gave him a lisp because we had to make him a weak character,” he says, forgetting to mention that so much of his performance in that film is more an ode to Mr Bean. Similarly, the cowboy of Salaam Namaste had shades of Crocodile Dundee and Feroz Khan.

Explaining his approach, especially with impersonation (he balks at the term “mimicry”) he says, “You have to caricature it a bit. If RK Laxman draws Mr Bachchan, he will probably extend his nose or make his eyes droop. A cartoonist takes a prominent feature of a personality and pushes it a little to make it funny.” A man of many talents, Jaaferi calls himself a keen observer of life and people. “It’s all about your power of observation. It’s like having a database. You can take from whoever you want, but make it your own. When A R Rahman takes a riff from Michael Jackson, he makes a new song.” Jaaferi has a madcap mimetic gift. He is devastatingly funny. But that’s reserved only for the camera.

In person, Jaaferi is very, very serious — even mournful. “It’s assumed that a comedian has to be funny all the time. From Chaplin to Johnny Walker saab to Mehmood saab, they were all serious people.” Spend some time with the Janus-faced star and a portrait emerges of a man who has the supple flexibility to draw from his bag of tricks and become anyone he wants. His Twitter bio reads: “Biodegradable Entertainer. Actor, producer, director, stand up comedian, choreographer, voice artist, occasional pessimist, frequent optimist. Aam Aadmi.”

The son of Jagdeep, a much-loved Bollywood comedian, humour has always been his sweet spot. But how on earth did he inherit a talent for dance? Jaaferi was the face of Boogie Woogie, the dance TV show that ran for so long, one female participant who was then 15 and is now a 33-year-old soccer mom “calls me uncle.” In fact, Jaaferi got his Bollywood break in 1985 when he landed the role of a rock-n-roll villain in Subhash Ghai’s Meri Jung. A friend dropped his “video tape” off at Ghai’s office and the next thing he knew, he was cast as the “dancing villain, a first in Hindi cinema.”

Today, looking back, Jaaferi says with a touch of regret, “It was a mistake.” His life would have turned out differently if he had been launched as a hero instead. “It was a wrong decision because at that point, villains were well-defined. Villains were bad people. Dancing was done by good people. If ever a villain danced, he was bad at it, but I could kill with dance, I was so good.” “It’s like Govinda. Govinda came in a year and half after I did. And he was also a dance guy. If I had come as a hero, I would have been somewhere in that zone.”

Post Meri Jung, he quickly got typecast. Bollywood soon put him on a musical chair and before long, he was relegated to middling multi-hero films. Over the years, Jaaferi has tried to repackage himself but all efforts to hit the reset button on a promising career have been met with mixed results. And yet, he has stuck around. Whether it was his VJ-ing days during which he did side-splitting skits on Bollywood, the zany voiceover for the dubbed version of the Japanese game show Takeshi’s Castle (he reimagined General Lee as Dilip Kumar), or the “It’s different” refrain from the Maggi ad, our pop culture is somewhat incomplete without Jaaved Jaaferi’s minor presence. Now, having been around for 30 odd years — “there were some even, also,” he deadpans — what excites him most is the chance to be a “principal” actor in a film.

“I would have loved to play Boman’s (Irani) role in 3 Idiots,” instead of the real Ranchoddas Shamaldas Chanchad (his appearance in the Raju Hirani blockbuster, was brief but important, plot-wise). By his own admission, Jaaferi is a victim of “image.” Assume, he entreats, “The director would never have cast me for Boman’s role, because I am not old enough to be Kareena’s (Kapoor) father and not too young, either.” He believes he belongs in the same space as Irrfan Khan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui but nobody will cast him in their roles. Again, that damn “image”.

At 53, Jaaferi looks young enough to match his graduation photograph. And yet, he’s a father of three teenagers. One of them, Meezaan, is following in his father and grandfather’s footsteps. Tipped to be launched by Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Jaaferi observes nostalgically, “He’s coming in approximately at the same age I did — 22. The way he’s coming in is also the same. Out of the blue, you get an offer and you’re in.”

The same could be said about Jaaferi’s blink-and-you- miss-it political career. A political rookie, he contested for 2014 Lok Sabha elections from Lucknow on an Aam Aadmi Party ticket, but lost to BJP heavyweight Rajnath Singh. Joining politics was a kneejerk reaction. Even his family was surprised. “I didn’t want to be a politician. I just wanted to say I believe in this, ‘put your money where your mouth is’ kind of a thing.” He still believes in AAP’s promise of “political change”, but washes his hands of active politics. “Bachchan saab burnt his fingers in politics. I should have, perhaps, learnt my lessons.”

Ship of Theseus director Anand Gandhi returns to the Toronto Film Festival with a drama which traces Arvind Kejriwal's political journey
Avinash Lohana (MUMBAI MIRROR; August 10, 2016)

CBFC’s decision over Udta Punjab led to lot of rumours, controversies and outrage before finally coming to a conclusion at the HC
Gaurav Dubey (MID-DAY; June 9, 2016)

Udta Punjab has been embroiled in more than one controversy over the last few days. Rumours of all kinds made the rounds, which included the Censor Board not issuing the certificate to CBFC asking the makers to make 89 cuts. There was also a strong buzz about Punjab being asked to drop from the film’s title by CBFC. On Wednesday afternoon, the makers of Udta Punjab along with Indian Film and Television Directors’ Association (IFTDA) held a press conference to clear the controversies and take the battle with the Censor Board head on. The entire controversy surrounding the film seems to have brought matters to a head and certain issues out in the open.

According to Sudhir Mishra, this is the Censor Board’s way of threatening filmmakers to not dabble in certain ‘uncomfortable’ subjects. “Censor Board’s job is to certify the film and not engage in moral policing. They are doing this to threaten the makers and financers, so that they do not make this kind of cinema but we are not scared,” he says.


It was revealed that CBFC had asked for 13 cuts. The makers had asked for a letter about the cuts which they claim was not given to them, but the Board said that were ready to give it. Anurag Kashyap, one of the film’s producers, rubbishes  the buzz and says that they got the letter yesterday when they went to the Bombay High court. He says, “This whole time Mr Nihalani has been lying. He said that the certification letter was ready on Monday and we didn’t go to collect it, but the truth is that we got the letter after we approached the Bombay high Court. The Board is here to certify the film and not censor the film. It’s a war for freedom of speech. The audience should decide which film they want to watch.”

The makers were keen on the letter as they were keen to take the film to Film Certification Appellate Tribunal (FCAT). Kashyap says, “The worst thing is that now the Judge of the FCAT is on leave till June 16 (The film is to release on June 17) so we will have to see what to do now, but this whole process is very stressful.” For now, it is unclear whether the film will release as scheduled or it will be pushed ahead.


Earlier in the day, Pahlaj Nihalani made the controversy worse by accusing Kashyap of having taken a bribe from AAP. Reacting to that Kashyap said in a blog Moi Fight Club, “We have a signed acknowledgement from Mr. Nihalani’s office dated June 7, which requests him to give us the official copy. So him saying he gave the letter on Monday is a lie and proof of all his lies. Him pressurising us to delay release, and accepting cuts is and was a thought through strategy. His accusing me of taking money from AAP is not just a lie, is a diversion from the real issue to make the fight for a filmmaker’s right into a political battle. And in this he is being helped by all the trolls to make sure that the real issue somewhere is lost in the political blame game.”

Expressing his anger, director Abhishek Chaubey said that they (the film’s unit) had to take the step so future films don’t suffer. “It’s a scary situation and I was very scared and tired of the process. In fact, a couple of days ago, I messaged the producers and told them that we should go ahead with the cuts as several issues were cropping up but then we decided to take up the matter. If we would have kept shut, many upcoming films would have suffered.”

Mukesh Bhatt, President Producer’s Guild, even went on to the extent of saying that Censor Board Chief Pahlaj Nihalani should be sacked with immediate effect. “It’s very disappointing to see a person from the same fraternity doing this. Making a film involves a lot of money and what Censor Board is doing with Udta Punjab seems to be a pre-planned thing. We want the Censor Board chief Pahlaj Nihalani to be sacked with immediate effect.”

Anand Gandhi (front row, centre) and the Memesys Culture Lab team at their studio in Versova. Pic/atul kamble

Award-winning filmmaker Anand Gandhi is two months away from launching India’s first mega virtual reality lab. Want to take a tour?
Aastha Atray Banan (MID-DAY; May 22, 2016)

The conversation at the Memesys Culture Lab’s studio in Versova oscillates from space — “That’s what Elon Musk’s plan is, to take plants and drop them on the surface of the Red Planet,” says Vinay Shukla — to if monogamy is finally redundant. “It’s a vestigial emotion. It’s like the tail bone,” Anand Gandhi declares.

And, of course, politics.

“You know, there is this regular at Delhi’s AAP rallies who always has an act going — one of his dentures popping. When we first saw him, we thought it was funny. Then, we realised, he does it everywhere!” says Khushboo Ranka. The 30-year-old and Shukla, 30, are makers of a film titled, A Proposition Of A Revolution, that examines the workings of the Aam Aadmi Party.

The lab’s founder, writer-director Gandhi says it’s a venture that brings together several of his passions — science, ancient wisdom, technology, news and creating conversation.

Gandhi has met with success in the past, whether it was with scripting the hugely popular television soap, Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, or directing the critically acclaimed in the 2013 film, Ship Of Theseus. A look at organ donation, it won him a National Award for Best Picture, among swooning critics.

The lab, says Gandhi, will use virtual reality to transform the landscape of narrative fiction. It is funded by Round Glass Partners, who pitched with an initial investment of $2.5 million last year. “We are the biggest studio in India yet to provide end-to-end virtual reality/augmented reality/mixed reality solutions and helming the largest projects. We are also creating holographic content, so in a sense, we are future-ready,” says Gandhi.

To prove it, he shares a pair of virtual reality headsets attached to a cell phone. Suddenly, we are on a cricket pitch in the middle of the action. Snap to us standing on stage beside vocalist Tipriti Kharbangar of Shillong’s Blues Rock band Soulmate, watching a stirring audience. Snap to being one with the crowd surrounding rights activist Trupti Desai, who is animatedly arguing for women’s entry into all temples.

We take off the headsets and are handed a phone to point at a sheet of paper. Mahatma Gandhi is seen doing a few stretches as a holographic character.

“It’s all in the developmental space, but it can also be used in education. Imagine opening a text book and watching a holographic Mahatma Gandhi walk out, and sit beside you for a conversation,” says Zain Menon, the inhouse technical wizard. “You open a biology book and watch a heart float out. It slices open to reveal itself and hangs there in mid-air as you watch how the ventricles and auricles receive and expel blood.”

The lab’s core team is working towards the ambitious goal of creating content that is intelligent and cutting edge, not ‘viral’; something that helps you find meaning in everything you do, see and feel. “Why is it a joy to work with Anand?” Ranka asks in mock wonderment. “He finds science, even in everyday situations, and whether he is worried or happy, he is speaking in scientific references.”

The group, which aside from Ranka, Shukla, Menon and Gandhi, includes Neil Pagedar and Pooja Shetty, have as striking a backstory as what they have set out to do. Except Shetty and Shukla, everyone is a college dropout. “I dropped out after Class 12,” says Menon. Suddenly, squeals of “me-too” pour in.

“I am a dropout, too,” says Gandhi, who hails from a Gujarati Jain family from Mumbai. All of us here have self-designed our education. What’s common to us is that we are curious.”

If, like us, you are wondering whether it takes a life of privilege to drop out of college and dream a holographic Mahatma, Gandhi will quote a scene from Sylvia, a film based on writer Sylvia Plath’s life. After poet Ted Hughes is snubbed by Plath’s parents’ rich friends, her mother pacifies Hughes with, “Don’t judge my friends, as they haven’t had your privilege — the privilege of working for what you want”.

“That’s what I have done,” Gandhi says. “I have had to work hard for what I wanted to achieve. And now the plan is to showcase information, science and life in an easy, accessible way.”

The Memesys website will be up and running in two months, he hopes, and will feature content that he terms thought provoking. Coming up is a science comedy, OK Computer, on the lines of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and 30 Rock. There is also a science show that will tackle one Indian historical or scientific subject in every episode. “For example, why and how has the Sanjeevani booti, which finds mention in the Ramayana, become attractive to scientists?” Gandhi asks. “Texts like the Ramayana are treasure troves of botanical information,” Ranka joins in.

There is also a web magazine featuring narrative non-fiction and gets the viewer right in the middle of news, much like the virtual reality clip we experienced of Trupti during the Maharashtra temple row. The lab will also be manufacturing its own cardboard virtual reality headsets, which you will need every time you watch their content on the web or your phone. A holographic app is under deliberation, which explains the stretching national leader.

And keeping with a profit-making model they envisage, the group plans to use the ‘branding’ route. “We will provide virtual reality solutions for all kinds of brands from start to finish. This includes getting into sports which includes cricket and kabbadi, and even music,” says Gandhi.

The first Memesys release though is A Promise Of A Revolution. This happens next month.

But all of this is hardly taking Gandhi away from what he is also bloody good at — movies. He is wrapping up his last film, Tumbad, and says he is working on the next idea, which will be a virtual reality production. “It’s about those south Indian women scientists whose picture went viral after the Indian Mars mission put a satellite into orbit around the planet. Aren’t they amazing?”

Just then Ranka decides it’s time to put the Memesys motto into words. “When Round Glass Partners decided to fund us, they said they did it because ‘they wanted to change the world’. And we said, that’s the plan!”

Subhash K Jha (DNA; February 13, 2015)


“I wish some of my party members who have been ignoring the experienced elder members of our party (he means LK Advani, Yashwant Sinha, Murli Manohar Joshi) would wake up to the call. I tried to warn my party members about the danger ahead. But I was told to shut up since being an actor I, apparently, didn’t understand politics. I hope those in my party, who understand politics, would now have an explanation for what had happened in Delhi,” said Sinha hours after the BJP’s defeat in Delhi.

Apparently, many prominent BJP members and supporters were appalled when Kiran Bedi’s name was finalised for chief ministerial candidate. “Experience and wisdom go hand-in-hand. To ignore both is a folly,” he says.

The American media has been mocking prime minister Narendra Modi’s elitist expensive-suit politics as opposed to Arvind Kejriwal’s populist cheap-muffler politics. “I cannot comment on this. Suffice to say for now that Kejriwal has displayed chaal, charitra, chehra, chintan in the best possible light, and he has won the hearts of the Delhi electorate. This is a warning for us. We cannot afford another setback like Delhi,” he says.

For the uninitiated ‘chaal charitra chehra chintan’ was used as a slogan by the BJP to win the Lok Sabha elections.

When asked to comment on his chances of sorting out the mess in Bihar’s politics caused by the ongoing tussle for power between Nitish Kumar and Jitan Ram Manjhi, Sinha quips, “I’ve always been a party soldier. I will continue to be the same. I am there to serve the party in any capacity.”

Song after song is being written for political parties just before the elections. Do the people behind the songs endorse the party’s ideology or is it just another job for them?
Sonali Joshi Pitale (MID-DAY; April 2, 2014)

Switch on the radio and you are bombarded with songs singing paeans of various political parties just before the elections. A case in point is the new anthem Saugandh Mujhe Iss Mitti Ki for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which has been sung by Sukhwinder Singh, penned by Prasoon Joshi and the music composed by Aadesh Shrivastava. The question is, would it be safe to conclude that these people would be supporting the party that they created the song for.

Aadesh has no qualms in admitting that he’s in full support of the party that he made the music for, but Sukhvinder Singh and Prasoon Joshi made it clear that they looked at it as purely professional commitment.

Aadesh says, “Lyrics of the song are amazing and very meaningful. So when I was approached for it, I immediately said yes. In the last 10 years people have seen no change in the situation and as a common man I am looking for some change in power. The layman’s condition in these years has become worse. But I am not going to campaign for the party.” Aadesh admitted that he hasn’t demanded any money from the party for giving music to the song.

Prasoon Joshi, however, told hitlist that he’s not supporting any party and he’s purely looking at it as a professional commitment.

Supporting two parties
Sukhwinder Singh’s case is unique as he had sung Jai Ho last year for the Congress and this year he switched to the BJP anthem. Singh says for him too it is just a work commitment. He further says that the song is not any pro-party but more pro-country. “Prasoon’s song is wonderful and it doesn’t say anything against any political party.”

Asked if he will support the party he has sung the song for, Singh said, “I will campaign for them if they ask me to do so. But when the Congress had last year offered me Jai Ho, I had put down the condition that I will only sing if the lyrics won’t be maligning any other party. So they gave me the song which only spoke about the progress of the party and so I sang it. I have faith and respect for Prasoon so when this time he came up with this, I agreed. I charged my regular fees for the song and I have already received the payment,” says the singer.

Meanwhile an industry insider says, “Normally advertising agencies which design these campaigns and shoot commercials for the parties are paid as per their market rates. They never do it for free. The only exception for this is when they tie up with some NGO , they don’t charge money.” In praise Sunidhi Chauhan, Alka Yagnik and Shaan sang a song for the Congress Party and Kailash Kher has lent voice for a song praising the Aam Aadmi Party.

Kher supports the AAP party and he says that he’s done the song for free. The crooner has donated the song to the ‘ movement’ which Anna Hazare and Arvind Kejriwal started few years ago. “ My band did the song when Arvindji had not formed the party. However, I still support him because I feel that he has brought a huge change amongst the youth.

Whenever I go out and meet youngsters I get to know that they have been motivated by the party’s spirit. This song is my gift to him,” he said.

You have seen him intimidating wannabe Roadies during auditions. Raghu Ram screams, swears and sometimes even hauls them out. But what is he like in person? Well, for starters, he writes, sings and has recently finished penning a novel
Asira Tarannum (MID-DAY; February 2, 2014)

We catch up with Raghu Ram at a coffee shop. He tells us he is leaving for a short vacation to Jaipur with his wife. “I am a shy guy in real life,” he says, which takes us by surprise, because we last remember him looking daggers at aspirants for the show, MTV Roadies . The host has just finished writing the book, Raghu Rearview — My Roadies Journey . “I read a lot, I am obsessed with books, and that is what inspired me to write. I love reading biographies and autobiographies. In fact, at MTV, whenever I had an argument with my boss, I’d tell him that that he will not come across very well in my book,” he says. In the book, Raghu admits to being bullied when he was a child. The straightforward tone of the book is quite refreshing. “The book is part-memoir, part-diary, part-autobiography,” he says.

He adds that he was approached to write a self-help book but that is not what interested him. “Over these 10 years, so much has been written about me. I have been called the rudest guy on Indian television, some said I am “against Indian culture”, a pretentious as****e. This is my side of the story. I believe I have been judged unfairly by a lot of people. Many viewers get where I am coming from without even knowing me. I have given enough interviews and it’s always about being rude. I don’t think I am rude,” he elaborates.

Raghu says he does not plan to change opinions with this book. “If somebody can read the parts of my book and take strength from it, that’s great. Beyond a point, I got frustrated. I work hard and I don’t want to be known as the bald guy who abuses. There’s more to me,” he adds.

To illustrate this, he tells us he pens lyrics, loves to sing and travel. “I have sung two popular songs, have written two songs and now penned a book,” he says.

These days, Raghu is also busy with politics. He finishes his cup of coffee, promptly calls for another one and excitedly tells us about his ambitions. “I was recently campaigning for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). In addition to that, I play a sardar in a recently released Punjabi film. I have also shot for a Bollywood film, and I hope to soon sing for one, too. I am in talks with Canadian composer IshQ Bector about it.” The anchor admits that he wants to spend more time with his wife, too. “My wife is so pissed with me — I have been travelling a bit much. That explains this vacation I am taking with her. I will be travelling for the next month, too, and then she will be off for something. It is an ongoing challenge, spending time together, but this year I want to prioritise her,” he smiles.

Priya Gupta (BOMBAY TIMES; January 10, 2014)

Salman Khan, 48, is not just a superstar but also a super human being. He may not know what he has done to be loved so much, but one thing he does know is that he is not here just to be a superstar to make shitloads of money for his family and friends. He realises his responsibility of delivering entertainment to his fans and is working extremely hard for it, despite his health. While he would be happy if Jai Ho breaks existing records, what will make him truly happy is if each human starts giving to three others. In an hour-long conversation, eating his simple fish and rice, he talks to Bombay Times about his dad who is his hero, instances in his life that made him human and how he gives, because he is selfish. Excerpts:
 
Salim sahab considers you a fakir. Any number of people I meet tell me stories about your generosity. How did you become the human being you are? There are some childhood memories that stick with you. As a kid, I would get air filled in my cycle in Bandra. I got it filled several times, but did not pay for it till one day when I went 10 years later again on my cycle asking for air. He recognised me and said, “Tumhara 6 rupaiya banta hai.’ I had become Salman Khan by that time, but he did not know who I was as he was so into his job. By that time, he was charging 2 to fill the air and he said, now you have to give me 8. I said, ‘Haan, deta hoon.’ But he said, ‘Nahi, cycle chodh jao.’ People started gathering and it did not even strike him then why people were stopping to see me. I asked one guy on the street, ‘ 100 dena zara.’ The guy on the street gave me 100 in a second and I gave it to air chacha saying, ‘Aap rakho chacha.’ He said ‘nahi’ and promptly returned me 92. That was the first time I learnt my biggest lesson in life that if you have the love, you will always have people to give you the money. I was shooting for a motorcycle commercial at the age of 16, when I realised that I had left an expensive watch in my room at a fivestar hotel. I went back after six hours and asked the receptionist. She checked who was on duty at that point and immediately said with conviction, ‘Chacha is there on duty today, your watch cannot go anywhere.’ I knew from the way she had said that my watch was safe. That’s the reputation I want for myself which a guy working in a bathroom of a hotel had made where you knew that if he was on duty, your stuff was safe. I want to be like him who people can blindly trust and believe in. I gave chacha 100 and he said, ‘Nahi beta, aap enjoy karo.’ That is character. There is one dialogue of my father ki, ‘Gopal iss duniya mein lene ke liye nahi, dene ke liye aaya hai.’ That got stuck in me. When I was young, I went to buy stuff from Suniel Shetty’s shop Mischief, but was short of funds for what I wanted to buy. He is a smart guy and he understood. He took me to his house and gave me these boots with spurs and some shirts and I felt that if I would be a star I would also do this. I don’t know what I am doing to deserve the love I am getting. But if I can’t make a difference then it is a waste of my life. I am not born to just become an actor and die with shitloads of property or money for my family and friends. I want to do something that will be remembered for centuries. I have the Being Human charitable trust and don’t know where I am heading, but I know that I am heading somewhere.

It’s easier said than done, but people don’t help others. Arbaaz and I used to share a room when we were kids. We stayed next to the sea and there were so many times when we have both taken out bodies from the sea and taken them to the hospital. In the middle of the night, we have gone from one party to another and picked up bodies from the road and deposited them at hospitals before going to our second party. When I was young, we were once three friends on a bike when the bike skid and fell on the highway. So many people zipped past us, but nobody stopped to help. I still remember that feeling of helplessness we had at the time we were lying on the road. One day I was passing by Prabhadevi and I saw a crowd as there was an accident but nobody was willing to pick up the people who were hurt. I also passed by and then thought if the person hurt had been my family or my friend, I would never have forgiven myself. So I helped them and it came from a fear of what if I knew that person. Then this thought was put in my head after seeing one of Mr Asrani’s films where he steals cars by putting nails on the road and in one such incident, his mother dies due to her car’s tyre being punctured while being taken to a hospital. I have been impacted in my personal life seeing films and so wanted to make a film that would impact people’s lives.
 
Who is your real life hero? My dad. I am not that typical good guy. I want to drive my car, go to my party, have a good time and don’t want to apologise for my position. I don’t want to spend shitloads of money to create an aura that I am a humble man. But I want to be like trusted like that hotel wala chacha. My dad is 80 years old but even today he sits outside our house everyday and signs cheques worth 6.5 to 8 lakhs to give away to the needy. He is a very straight man. He is very knowledgeable. My whole problem with my father while growing up was, why was he so right when I was so wrong. I always wanted to prove him wrong even though I always knew he was right, till one day when I decided that I just would go by him. Even if he was wrong 49 times, I knew he would be right 51 times.
 
Why was the title changed from Mental to Jai Ho? My name in the film is Jai and Jai Ho is a way of greeting. My father had a problem with Mental and rightly so, especially coming with me in just the way I would be called out. In this day and age, if a guy is honest, non-corrupt and righteous, he is called mental, as being corrupt and getting corrupted has become a part of us. If a man is honest, we will say, ‘don’t go to him. He is mental.’ My dad then gave Jai Ho which is a bigger and better title. So, the reason for changing it was that our father was not happy. Period. Full stop. He is our father. His experience is immense. Something he has written 40 years ago, Sholay, is still running and people are still going mad about it.
 
What is the message of Jai Ho? Normally, when we take something from someone we just say a thank you and think of giving it back. Actually, when someone gives you something it is his need to give. And you don’t need to give it back. Instead, you should give it to three more people. I may not need something today, but my kids or my grandchildren will need and at that time somebody will be there to give to them and complete the circle.
 
There is an aam aadmi dialogue in your trailer. Do your film have anything to do with the AAP? The aam aadmi dialogue was written two years ago and we have nothing to do with the Aam Aadmi Party. The system can never be corrupt. The people running it can be. Also everybody is not corrupt and there are good and bad people always in every walk of life. A rich man works hard to earn money and pays taxes to ensure he gets back facilities. The same taxes are also supposed to look after the underprivileged in society. But the aam aadmi, in reality, is always sitting with folded hands in front of the person he himself has voted in to look after him. Do you know when I was in jail, I asked the jail authorities, ‘Why are you not cleaning the bathrooms?’ And they said, ‘Because in the monsoons people commit petty crimes to come into jail so that they can stay four months here.’ So that means that their lives outside are worse than inside jail. When you are fighting with a corrupt politician, he is using the whole government machinery against you and we are paying for that. They can come into our house and search our houses but we cannot come out and ask, ‘Where is my money going? Where are the roads?’ And nobody is getting up as everyone is like the cycle chacha — just involved with their lives working hard to make money to make ends meet for their family. We are so scared of the powerful. Every six months, you break and make the same roads. What is it? Is the material sub-standard? Are the people building these roads incompetent? Even roads in the smallest countries we travel to look like marble. There are lots of roads to be done. Why the same roads again and again? How much jhol? Politics is about social work. The elected person is supposed to look after people in his constituency. The film is about one such honest politician Jai who wants to help people.
 
Will you ever join politics? I am already a part of it. I am getting so much money for entertaining people and I am giving back through my foundation and that is also a selfish thing as the universe has a way of taking back from you. You reclaim land from the sea, it takes it back. I just want my films to work so that no one loses money, my fans are not disappointed and I can put money in my charitable trust. Despite my health I am giving it my best shot. There was a time when I would take it lightly. But today, I feel some kind of responsibility. There are millions of good-looking people with great bodies. I don’t want to be known for that.
 
Does it give you satisfaction helping others? What gives me satisfaction is that at one stage in my life when I will need help, there will be somebody to give it to me. When I will have nothing there will be that one person who will come and give me that one chance. Sooraj Barjatya gave it to me.
 
Is Jai Ho a different Salman Khan film? There is nothing different about it. It’s just that there is more anger in it. A common person’s anger. I have given my passion and lagan to this film as I don’t want to let down my audience who has given me so much love and respect. I want the film to be full paisa vasool and it is my duty that I give 4000 worth for a 400 ticket.

Bharati Dubey (MID-DAY; January 7, 2014)

Salman Khan, who was promoting his film in Nagpur on Monday, has appealed to political parties to not misuse the song of his upcoming film for their benefit. And while he was at it, he also clarified that Jai Ho has got nothing to do with the Aam Aadmi Party.

Speaking to mediapersons, the actor said, “If the system is corrupt, let the aam aadmi (common public) raise his awareness instead of blaming others. I fail to understand why the aam aadmi needs leaders to guide him.” Turns out the actor is irked with political parties using the songs of his film even before its release.

Unlike Aamir Khan who has been quite vocal about his support to Aam Aadmi Party, Salman said he had no interest whatsoever in politics. “Arvind Kejriwal has won the elections and people have given him such a big platform but he will have to prove himself now,” the Dabangg star added nonchalantly.