Ankita Chaurasia (MUMBAI MIRROR; May 11, 2020)

In the wake of Coronavirus-induced lockdown, re-runs of yesteryear shows are keeping TV channels from going off air as fresh content has dried up. This has not only brought up a wave of nostalgia for the viewers but also the actors. Here, some of them rewind to their most memorable episodes:


Shivaji Satam, CID: ‘The Case of the Deadly Virus’ was quite similar to the current outbreak
One of the most memorable CID episodes for me was ‘The Case of the Deadly Virus’, which aired in 1998. It was quite similar to the current outbreak, in which, faced with an unknown virus threat, we needed masks and bodysuits to handle it. Of course, back then, all we could show was a vial of the fast-spreading contagion, but the premise was the same. Then, my team of detectives and I, helped save the day.

Another episode from our 20-year run that stands out in memory is ‘The Inheritance’, which made it to the Guinness Book of World Records and the Limca Book of World Records. It was a one-take, 111-minute episode. We began at the golden hour with 22 actors at an under-construction hotel in Lonavala. Car chases, bomb blasts, everything was executed in one go with military precision before we lost natural light. The reason we pulled off this feat was because we were like one big family with our director, B P Singh, leading it.


Renuka Shahane, Circus: Shah Rukh and Kundan convinced me to not let my fear come in the way
For a person who fears heights, doing a show about a circus was terrifying. I almost quit. Shah Rukh (Khan, co-star) and Kundan (Shah, director) convinced me to not let my fears get in the way of my career. It was a lovely shoot, all of us were friends bouncing ideas off each other, especially during emotional scenes.

For me, the most memorable shot was the one which had made me petrified in the first place. It was a night shoot. I had to climb up a ladder and try some trapeze moves before losing footing and falling into the net, which was about four feet above the ground. I started crying when I reached the second rung but Kundan wouldn’t relent, encouraging me and asking me to show more intensity. That day I realised that you can’t internalise grief for the camera, you have to show it.


Shekhar Suman, Dekh Bhai Dekh: At 2 am I got a call from Anand, saying, ‘Shekhar, what have you done!’
I still remember the scene where Sameer Diwan finds out there’s a drop in the share market and slips down the stairs. This happened in the first episode itself. I was wearing shoes with rubber soles and the staircase was carpeted—it was almost impossible to slip. I did my best and went home. At 2 am, I got a call from Anand Mahendroo (director), exclaiming, “Shekhar, what have you done!” He asked me to report to his office immediately. Fearing the worst, I dressed quickly and dashed there. Anand was all excited, wanting to show me the shot which he thought was flawless and looked completely natural. It became my introductory scene in the title song. The shoot in London was also very memorable.


Kanwaljit Singh, Buniyaad: The scene where Satbir learns that he is an illegitimate child was emotionally harrowing
We were working on another show directed by Ramesh Sippy, when I first heard talks about Buniyaad. At that time, buzz was, Amitabh Bachchan and Dilip Kumar would feature in this mega TV show that was set in the 1916-1978 period. Ramesh ji came to me with the role of Roshanlal, Master Haveliram’s younger son, which was eventually played by Mazhar Khan. I told him I was keener on playing the illegitimate son of his sister, Veeravali, and her lover, Lala Vrishbhaan. He had his reservations, he didn’t think I looked right for the role. I put myself on a strict diet and within 20 days I returned to his office looking much leaner and younger. He was convinced.

But it was a demanding role. The scene where Satbir learns that he is an illegitimate child was really intense and emotionally harrowing.


Sanjay Mishra, Office Office: Rekha ma’am turned to me and said, ‘I like you in the show, you’re too good’
Playing the paan-chomping peon, Shukla, in Office Office felt repulsive in the beginning. There were times when I had to spit out the betel juice at the exact moment that Pankaj Kapur’s Mussadilal Tripathi passed by. It was important to get the timing right and that called for a lot of practise. Soon, everyone started associating me with the character so much so, that the secretary of my building called to complain of paan stains on the compound wall. I got really offended that he should think I was responsible, pointing out that I came from a good, educated family. I don’t think he was convinced.

My most memorable moment on the set was when Rekha ma’am dropped by. We were shooting in Kamalistan Studio and she had to climb up the stairs to reach us. I was sitting quietly, watching her interact with everyone else when suddenly she turned to me and said, “I like you in the show, you’re too good!” For the rest of the day, my colleagues kept teasing me, saying that now that I had Rekha ma’am’s approval, there was no stopping me.

Sanyukta Iyer (MUMBAI MIRROR; November 17, 2017)

The last five years have been nightmarish for Dekh Bhai Dekh writer-actor Lilliput. Once a familiar face on the telly, M M Faruqi, who renamed himself ‘Lilluput’ in the ’80s, admits that he is buried in debt and struggling to find work today. “For the last one year, I have been making the rounds of producers’ offices with two scripts. Some say, ‘Dekhenge, sochenge,’ while others are blunt, ‘Baune uthke chale aate hain director banne,’” he sighs.

He also recalls how he got the rare opportunity to play a non-comic role in the TV series Woh (1998), a loose adaptation of Stephen King’s 1986 horror novel, It, which was recently in the news with its eponymous Hollywood adaptation. While Lilliput’s performance was lauded, he can never forget how a top star derided him, saying sarcastically, “Accha, you can do serious roles also, I thought dwarfs were apt for only comedy”.

The slights didn’t stop there. Another actor, this one highly-educated, once joked that Lilliput’s pager number was longer than him. “This time, I replied. ‘Kuch logon ki zubaan bhi mujhse lambi hai, ab kya kar sakte hain.’ I think he got the message,” Lilliput reminisces, sounding frail and unlike the feisty Cheena, who took on Kamal Haasan’s Raja in Ramesh Sippy’s 1985-romance Saagar or the assassin of the TV series, Razia Sultan.

One remembers how he juggled the roles of a gambler, raakshas and jadoogar in the 1988 TV series, Vikram Aur Betaal and wonders if he’s unwell and he admits his financial instability is a cause for constant concern. “When I arrived in Mumbai in December 1975, I was the first dwarf actor here and decided to make a brand of myself. I thought in a big industry like Bollywood a dwarf can find lots of fun roles to play so I christened myself Lilliput and began to audition,” he flashbacks. He dabbled with theatre and films and even graduated to television.

However, despite his growing popularity, an assistant director, who is a big name today, had warned him that the film industry would never look beyond his height. “In hindsight, I realise he was right,” sighs Lilliput, who is presently shooting for director-friend Vikram Razdan’s short film. “Offers today are few and far between. I accept all of them,” he says. Lilliput has played “a normal man” in the play Tota Maina Ki Kahani and acted in films like Bunty Aur Babli and Kabhie Tum Kabhi Hum. Between 2011 and 2013 he was seen in TV shows like CID and Adaalat.

“But the Hindi film industry lets the length of a man’s legs define his capability. It doesn’t understand that a man doesn’t think with his feet,” he reflects, acknowledging that it was the lack of roles that made him try his hand at writing. Writer-producer Anand Mahendroo encouraged him and he went on to pen dialogue for the 1992 Shah Rukh Khan-starrer, Chamatkar, and the popular sitcom, Dekh Bhai Dekh.

He also wrote Indradhanush for Mahendroo and a few other projects, before Subhash Ghai signed him to play the pint-sized villain opposite Amitabh Bachchan. “The film never took off but Subhash ji still recommends me to friends. No other director saw me the way he did,” he says, admitting that many of the other producers were exploitative and unprofessional. One made me wait for six months for payment before asking me to settle for Rs 50,000 instead of the agreed upon Rs 2 lakh. Twice, a fortnight’s shoot has been cut down to three days and the money paid after three months. I’ve had to borrow from friends and acquaintances without the resources to repay them,” he recounts.

Lilliput says everyone in the industry knows him, but he has no friends because he doesn’t indulge in idle talk or go for parties. “And if you are not a part of that world, you are not a part of the industry. Yahaan dost kahan hote hain, yahaan vyaapar-wale mitr hote hai,” the 68-year-old smiles, pointing out that his elder daughter has had to take over as the family’s breadwinner. He brings up Game of Thrones’ award-winning actor Peter Dinklage, who plays Tyrion Lannister and has been pushing relentlessly towards the empowerment of dwarfs.

“I see that better roles keep coming his way in Hollywood while India still can’t understand that a dwarf can fall in love, fight, travel and even play mind games. Here, a dwarf is a lesser human being because of his height. Every day I feel wasted as an artiste and that’s my biggest regret.”

Filmmaker Anand Mahendroo has allotted 10,000 sq ft of his property in the suburbs for a cultural melting pot
Roshmila Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; October 14, 2017)

A theatre café is coming up in Andheri, a buzzing suburb of Mumbai towards the month-end. The obvious question now would be: What’s a theatre café? Filmmaker Anand Mahendroo, who came up with the concept, points out that around a century ago in India, and definitely during the Bard’s time in the UK, nautankis and plays were a dinner date for its patrons. “Excavations have dug up chicken bones from sites where Shakespeare put up his plays. That’s how the idea of staging a performance at a 60-seater café, a nautanki to an audience of 120 or a music recital with food as an accompaniment to 200 lounging on gaddas, came up. It will be a complete and not too expensive outing for the family with drinks and food during and after the performance. It will be a melting pot for culture,” informs Anand, who brought in a new type of storytelling on TV with serials like Dekh Bhai Dekh and now wants to extend the novelty to theatre.

He is building a 10,000 square feet amphitheatre on his 45,000 square feet property which has taken on the ambience of a quaint Indian village with the theatre café, called Reflections Theatre cafe, located on the second floor of a 40-year-old building. “The idea is to promote arts and crafts not available in India and give a platform to artistes and artisans across the country. There will be something or the other happening from dance and drama, workshops, discussions and plays with around 100 events lined up every month,” he says, pointing out that the 22 feet x 13 feet stage can hold 10 performers but won’t double up as discotheque or a platform for b-boying performers, open only to folk singers, adivasi drama of Bastar and suchlike.

Anand already has 20 plays lined up. It will open with a Kathak recital by a Spanish girl, Neira Reena Seini, who has been learning the dance form in Varanasi for nine years, followed by an Amod Bhattdirected Hinglish musical based on Sharad Joshi’s satire, Andhon Ka Haathi. “The work has translated into a play back in the ‘70s, serials and three films. I’ve seen all of them and they all interpreted it as an expose on corruption in bureaucratic and political circles but for me it’s a call for activism, to exercise your rights so the corrupt can be put in place which is the need of the times,” explains Anand, who has been working with first-time actors, Dishant Singh Gullaiya, Karthik Sharma, Guneet Sharma, Singhant Singh Kureja as the four andhas and Vaishali Gaur.

“I have conducted acting workshops with them for six months, six-eight hours every day, with them focused on the play for the last three months and training in singing for eight weeks. We’ve had two preview shows and two of the actors have already landed film roles,” he beams proudly.