With Paresh and Swaroop Sampat Rawal’s son, Aditya, making his acting debut, the family talks about adapting to the times and the changing face of cinema
Kunal Guha (MUMBAI MIRROR; May 17, 2020)

The only “silver lining” in the nationwide lockdown so far, says Swaroop Sampat Rawal, is that the family has got a chance to watch Aditya’s acting debut in the web film, Bamfaad.

“After watching it, Aditya and [older son] Aniruddh spoke to Paresh at length about cinema and acting. It was like being part of an in-house masterclass,” says the 61-year-old actor and education counsellor, who made her comeback on the big screen with Uri last year.

Surprisingly, Aditya’s father, veteran actor and former Lok Sabha MP, Paresh Rawal, only learnt about his son’s decision to face the camera five hours before he went on set. “For some reason, he decided not to tell me earlier,” says Rawal Sr, whose only bit of acting advice for his son was “to preare hard and be spontaneous”.

Before his debut, the 28-year-old had pursued the dramatic writing programme at the Tisch School of the Arts, New York, and an initiation course in theatre and performance at the London International School of Performing Arts. He also wrote and directed The Queen, a stage production about a 16th century Rajput queen who is abandoned by her husband for a younger woman. The play, which premiered in New York, was to be staged in Mumbai, but had to be postponed due to the Coronavirus pandemic. It did, however, enjoy a 12-week run in the Big Apple, and earned him the New York Innovative Theatre Award.

Reflecting on her son’s debut, Swaroop points out how the entertainment industry has become a lot more organised now. “In my time, it was just luck by chance. I became Miss India in 1979 and shortly after, landed two roles with Yash Raj [Dilip Naik’s Nakhuda, 1981] and Hrishi da [Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Naram Garam, 1981],” she says, of her memorable onscreen turns. “Even Paresh got one of his early breaks in Arjun (in 1985) because the one of the producers [Karim Morani] was in college with him.”

Swaroop says she took a break from films in the mid-1980s, when she felt she was seen as “too old to play the heroine”. “I have a problem of not being able to look old. Even when I played an older character, I would look as young as the heroine,” she laughs, adding that her decision to turn away from films was also to be a full-time mum. “Paresh was working two to three shifts a day. Someone had to be at home with the boys.”

Aditya says his childhood was far removed from the world of cinema, where conversations about films and theatre were few and infrequent. “In fact, the only time I remember being on a film set while Dad was shooting was OMG Oh My God [2012], where I was an assistant director,” says the youngster, who has also assisted Ashutosh Gowarikar with the story and screenplay of Panipat [2019]. But he does have his share of memories of his father speaking fondly about theatre and acting in plays. “My favourite performance of his is Khel [2000], with Naseeruddin Shah. Watching them together was fabulous and enlightening. They are both so passionate about their craft,” says Aditya, referring to the Hindi adaptation of British playwright Anthony Shaffer’s Sleuth.

In recent years, Swaroop has delved into experiential learning, which essentially employs her skills as an actor in teaching. Having received a full scholarship from a UK university, she completed her doctorate in education on the role of drama in enhancing life skills. Last year, Swaroop trained 2.5 lakh teachers in the subject over a four-day workshop in Gujarat, and plans to conduct a similar session for nearly five lakh teachers in Maharashtra soon. She has also visited tribal areas in the country and taught life skills through drama to children from low income households.

“They were so excited to learn from me that they went home and proudly told their parents, ‘Our teacher is a Miss India’,” she says. Her newly-discovered passion for teaching has had a profound effect on her. “While narrating a story in a classroom, you have to be louder than usual, which makes Paresh often ask me, ‘why are you so animated?’ In fact, when I’m on screen now, I have to readjust my levels,” she says, adding that her work in cinema has given her a lifelong training in adapting to new things. “I remember Hrishi da would explain a whole scene and ask me to do it in one take… and if I protested, he would say, ‘you guys are theatre actors, you should manage it’.”

Her return to films has been smooth, even though she sometimes “feels like a dinosaur” on the sets. “I didn’t grow up in the digital age. I was thrown into it. We had huge cameras and lights then, and now, the camera has shrunk so much that you don’t even feel its presence,” Swaroop says.

Even a veteran actor like Paresh Rawal finds it tough at times to keep up. At 64, he feels there’s “plenty to learn and even more to unlearn”. “You realise that a lot of what you’ve picked up over the years is rubbish,” he says, lauding contemporary actors such as Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Ayushmann Khurrana, Rajkummar Rao and Adil Hussain for their compelling work. “When you look at them, you can see that the standards of acting have also changed.”

Films, too, have come a long way since he made his debut in 1982 with Naseeb Ni Balihari, says the Padma Shri recipient. Earlier, films were clearly categorised as either commercial or arthouse and parallel cinema, the latter being dominated by heavyweights such as Shyam Benegal, Ketan Mehta, Govind Nihlani and Syed Mirza. “Now, films are not so segregated,” he says. “Another blessing is that since the foreign companies have opened offices here, we can no longer copy from their films, lest we get penalised,” he says with a chuckle. “This is also why we have begun mining our own stories and histories.”

Known for his comic timing, Paresh likes to subject his family to his one-liners. “Often, his sense of humour lands us in sticky situations,” Aditya says, referring to his father’s tweets. “He’s not as mad as his Hera Pheri character, but he’s great fun to grow old with,” says Swaroop.

Neha Maheshwri (BOMBAY TIMES; November 27, 2019)

Day six of the ongoing International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa got movie enthusiasts hooked to a session on ‘The Contemporary Filmmakers of Different Generations’, which was spearheaded by filmmakers Imtiaz Ali and Rahul Rawail. Just as the moderator kick-started the session, Ali requested to be allowed to interview his co-panelist and thus began an interesting trail of conversation. Right at the start, Ali told us how he ended up on stage. He shared, “We often give interviews, in which we are asked the same questions and we give the same answers, which makes us feel that our life is boring. So, when I got a call from Mr Rahul Rawail asking me to come as a guest to IFFI, I gladly accepted his invite, but had just one request — that I would like to interview him.”

‘WATCHING RAJ KAPOOR AT WORK CHANGED MY OUTLOOK TOWARDS FILMS’
Interestingly, Rawail said that he didn’t want to become a filmmaker to start with. He recalled, “My childhood friend Chintu (Rishi Kapoor) invited me to watch the shoot of a circus sequence in Mera Naam Joker (1970). I was 15 then. I wasn’t interested initially, but then he told me that there will be Russian girls in skimpy clothes (laughs!). On the set, when I saw Raj Kapoor at work for the first time, it changed my outlook towards cinema and I decided to become a filmmaker.”

Talking about the influence of Rawail’s film Arjun (1985) on his life, Ali said, “I remember how my friends stayed over at my house and watched Arjun back-to-back two times on a VCR. After that, we came out on the street, trying to pick a fight with everyone, ki maarte hain kisi ko.”

Rawail recalled, “We struggled for six months to crack the story. Then one day in Khandala, we read an article on the growth of Dawood and Pathan gangs. I was woken up at 3 am by Javed ji (Javed Akhtar is the writer of the film). He called me over to his room, as he wanted to narrate something to me. He had this habit of writing on scraps of paper, including toilet paper. In three hours, he had written an entire script, which was an absolute achievement.”

Praising Ali, Rawail said, “I feel a great connect with Highway (2014), because somewhere, the atmosphere of the hut where they (characters played by Randeep Hooda and Alia Bhatt) lived reminded me of Betaab (1983).” Ali agreed, “Yes, it was shot in the same terrain. There is a place in Pahalgam, called the Betaab valley. The scene in my film was shot a bit ahead of Pahalgam.”

‘THERE HAVE BEEN TIMES WHEN I HAVE GOT THE ANSWER WHILE MAKING A FILM AND NOT WHILE WRITING IT’
The filmmakers also got candid about their inspirations. Rawail explained why most of his male characters displayed a lot of fury. “Those films came at a time when the educated youth was unemployed, and it was a huge problem. Aaj bhi hai, but uss zamaane mein bahut tha,” he said. On his part, Ali said, “The stories that I have written are about things that have not happened directly in my life. But because of imagination and a certain type of sensitivity, I might have felt strongly about it.”

When asked by an audience member if he gets closure while writing or directing, Ali replied, “Sometimes, I don’t understand the difference between writing and direction. There have been times when I have got the answer while making a film and not while writing it. In a way, it’s the question that leads me into making that film or scene. For example, I had this recurring dream of missing a train before I made Jab We Met (2007). A few months after the film, I stopped seeing that dream, so in a way, something was addressed.”

‘IT’S NOT FAIR TO JUDGE A FILM ON THE BASIS OF THE AUDIENCE’S REACTION DURING INTERVAL’
Talking about the perception that networking is necessary to land work, Ali said, “Chahe jitni bhi dosti ho, but kaam jiska achha hota hai kaam ussi ke pass aata hai. In that sense, every filmmaker is selfish; he wants the best actor and director. There are actors like Ranbir Kapoor, who don’t socialise, and he is not on social media either, but is doing pretty well.”

When asked what was plaguing the industry, Ali said, “Business is very myopic. If a film doesn’t work in the first two shows on a Friday, toh iska matlab hai usko utaar do. There are movies that are made with a legacy and love. There are movies that are not like T-20 matches. They can give you a lot of money, but you have to be patient. I feel that that the movie fraternity shouldn’t do business like the stock market. We may perish, but our films will remain. So, that should be kept in mind and it’s not fair to judge a film on the basis of the audience’s reaction during interval.”

Rawail added, “The degradation of cinema is that we are not shooting movies, we are shooting numbers, which is a big crime. People are only bothered about what happens on a Friday, Saturday and Sunday.”

‘WHAT GUARANTEES PROFIT IS THE QUALITY OF THE FILM’
Talking about what makes a film successful, Rawail said, “What guarantees profit is the quality of the film, which according to me is completely dependent on the director.” On his part, Ali said, “Going by the success and failure of my own films, I can tell you that the movie has to be good qualitatively. We need a bit more vision from the fraternity that sells the film. They need to believe in somebody’s vision and story, only then can a director make a good film. Then, there are greater chances of success with or without stars.”

Karan Deol on matters of the heart, the senior Deols and why he chose to make his big Bollywood debut with a love story
Avinash Lohana (MUMBAI MIRROR; August 28, 2019)

Karan Deol looks comfortable seated in a sea-facing room of a suburban hotel. He is the third generation of the Deols, gearing up for his Bollywood debut in daddy Sunny’s third directorial, Pal Pal Dil Ke Paas, and gleefully informs that his first media interaction happened at age seven. “My grandfather (Dharmendra) was in an interview while I sat quietly nearby, playing with my toys, when he suddenly called out to me. Being a shy kid, I was hesitant, but he pulled me to his side and urged me to speak. It’s a cute memory,” he smiles.

Karan’s nickname is Rocky because Sunny is a huge fan of Sylvester Stallone and the Rocky films. Given that the Deols are known for their action films, it’s unusual that he is starting his career with a love story. “I’m an intense romantic and I’m starting with a love story because I found it interesting. While we were brainstorming, the idea just came up and Pal Pal Dil Ke Paas was born. Having said that, there is action in the film too as another side to my character is unveiled later in the film. It’s a film about external factors which influence the lives of the couple and try to stop the romance from blossoming,” explains the debutant, promising an interesting outing at the theatres. He then goes on to surprise you by revealing that there is a scene in the film in which his dialogue is similar to his father’s iconic line, “Yeh dhai kilo ka haath” from his 1993 crime drama Damini.

In school, Karan was a reserved kid who wanted to take part in plays but was too scared to do so and would find comfort in films instead. He would watch animation, the Star Wars franchise and Quentin Tarantino films. “When I felt low, I used music to vent. I started writing poetry when I was 12 and it went on to become a hobby. I still have most of them except for the earlier ones, I wish I had preserved them too. I have also written some short stories and given a chance, I would love to write a script too,” avers Karan, adding that love and angst are his two favourite topics to write on.

He broke the news of wanting to be an actor to his father first. “Dad said we have to tell my grandfather as he is the boss in the house. When I did, he promised his support but cautioned me about the competition, asserting that I had to be mentally and emotionally strong,” flashbacks the youngster, admitting that while he is a quiet guy in real life, he becomes the character and enjoys the moment while on set. “My grandfather was nervous for me, but gradually everyone eased into the idea,” he shares. They shot across Himachal Pradesh in extreme conditions, going to places which didn’t have proper roads. “But dad is a taskmaster and we’d trek for a couple of hours, set up the shot and shoot. I wonder if many of those locations have even been seen on screen before,” Karan points out, adding that at night, the temperature would go down to minus three-four degrees, which was physically challenging, but the memories will always be warm. Prod him for details and he recalls a wall of ice which he had to slide on with co-star Sahher Bambba. “There was a waterfall too, a blast of cold wind and icicles. We had to keep going with a smile on our faces. It was scary but gave us an adrenaline rush,” he informs.

The film had been in the making for a long time and there have been sporadic rumours that certain portions were reshot. Karan attributes this to global warming which has made the weather unpredictable all over the world. “When we were in Manali, the monsoons kicked in early. When the rains continued for a week, we had no option but to return home. It even started snowing early but dad was determined to shoot at these same locations, so we waited,” he reveals, adding that sometimes they had to reshoot because the framing went wrong in all the chaos. “If it wasn’t for this, we’d have finished earlier.”

What’s his favourite Dharmendra film? Pat comes the answer, “Chupke Chupke.” And a film of Sunny’s which he likes the best? “Arjun,” he replies, recalling that the umbrella sequence in the 1985 Rahul Rawail directorial was fabulous. “It is a film that can be remade today. It was about politics and a young man. The aesthetics may have changed but the topic is still relevant.”

The family was ecstatic when Sunny won the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from Gurdaspur in May. Karan informs that his father doesn’t discuss politics at home, it’s always movies. “We didn’t know what to expect when he was getting into politics but were happy for him when he was elected. He went through a lot and deserved it,” says Deol Jr.

Buzz is, the debutant already has another film in his kitty. Hesitantly, but with a big smile, Karan nods, “I do. It is a comedy, very different from what I have done in my first film.”

One last question: Is he in love, for real? “I am somewhat in love I would say,” he blushes and clams up.

Subhash K Jha (DNA; May 8, 2015)


Proof of this lies in the song that Sunny has been shooting along with four newcomers in the sequel to Ghayal. The song replicates the mood of the popular Kero Mama number that Sunny sang and danced to on the streets of Mumbai with co-stars Satyajeet and Raja Bundela in Arjun in 1985.

Ahmed Khan who has choreographed the new number in Ghayal Once Again says, “The new song has the same feel as Kero Mama in Arjun. Except that Sunny is older and wiser. There are two young girls and two boys joining Sunny in the song and dance.”

The number is shot on a college campus. Sunny plays a professor who impels his students to fight crime and injustice.

Ahmed was taken aback by Sunny’s dancing. “He will surprise those who think Sunny has two left feet.And his energy level matches the youngsters. Sunny is still the lion from Ghayal.”