Prateek Sur (DNA; January 14, 2015)


Akshara is making her debut this year with R Balki’s Shamitabh. What are you expecting from this film as her mother?
I think it’s bad to have expectations. I believe expectations come with a lot of pressure and that’s not cool. On the other hand, with R Balki at the top of this project, I am assured that everything in this film will be good, and great quality cinema-wise. People may or may not like the film, that will be their personal choice, but I am assured that Akshara couldn’t have had a better debut.

Go on...
You have seen Balki. He is not one of those run-of-the-mill filmmakers who will make just about anything. He makes quality cinema and that’s why stalwarts agree to be a part of his projects. That’s also why all his films have been superhit in the past and been loved by critics as well.

So you believe that he is the best launch pad for your daughter....
Not just for Akshara. Balki is the director for any actor. Period! Also when it’s your launch pad, it doubly increases your security as an actor. You know that you are in safe hands.

The films stars Amitabh Bachchan and Dhanush in the lead roles. Don’t you think Akshara would have to stand very tall in order to match their acting talent? Won’t it be something too big to aim for in her debut film?
Balki, Bachchan, Dhanush, Ilayaraja and many such stalwarts are in this project. It was like Akshara going to a college. I can’t put it in any other way. They are all teachers and you can’t ask for better teachers. Now that the courses have finished, the results will be out soon and everyone will get to know how well she has fared in the exam.

You have worked with Amitabh Bachchan in the past and also recently in Yudh. How was your experience with him?
To be very honest, Mr Bachchan is very rocky. The reason I say this is because of his filmography. Look at his work. He has done practically everything in a lifetime. I don’t know which other actor would have done roles as varied as Mr Bachchan has done. I would really like to do the kind of work that he is doing, when I am his age.

You have shifted to being a character artist these days. As an actor does that change happen naturally?
My last release was Club 60, and I had a perfect leading lady angle in that film. I had a romantic angle with Farooque Sheikh. So you can’t say that was a character role. What basically has to be understood is that the role should be good. Else, I wouldn’t want to waste my time working in projects that I know may not see the light of the day.

So you are saying you have become choosy in picking up roles?
I believe filmmakers need to start writing more and more roles for actors and less for characters. In a general scenario we have roles written for hero, heroine, villain, item girl, etc. But ideally it should be written for the actors. If you have seen Rajat Kapoor’s last film Ankhon Dekhi, that was a film written for actors. Even Club 60 was written for actors and that’s why I chose to be a part of it. When this happens in our film industry, the actors start flourishing and that helps them better the quality of acting that they do.

Do you think your daughters are also getting victimised by this? Because most of the roles that they pick up are character-driven and not actor-driven?
Let’s not jump the gun with Akshara right now. You will have to see Shamitabh to know what has been written for her as an actor. I can’t say that in future she wouldn’t give in to the craze of character driven roles, but we can’t say that now.

And what about Shruti Haasan?
Shruti has taken her decisions and those seem to have worked for her brilliantly. As long as it works for her there is no harm. She has already proved her mettle as she is an established actor. Let’s get all our focus on Akshara now.

You have been part of TV. What do you think about it as a medium? Would you suggest TV to your daughters?
See as an actor my basic need is to perform. If the role that I have been offered, I feel that the actor in me can do well, then I would definitely do it. Now whether that is shown on TV or on the big screen doesn’t really matter. However, it is imperative to check fully before you sign any project as many a time a project starts with great intentions but doesn’t see the light of the day. That hurts an actor. That’s why it is very important to see if the producers are good and if the director is capable enough of steering the film in the right direction. At the end, more than the money, it’s the recognition that an actor gets is what matters to him/her. The medium is just secondary.

You reportedly hold Akshara back from going out and having boyfriends and make sure that she spends most of her time shooting and working for her film. How true is that?
No. Never have I done anything of that sort.

What other future projects are you working on?
I am reading a lot of scripts these days. Whenever there is something I find interesting to do, I will sign it then and there.

Meena Iyer & Hiren Kotwani (BOMBAY TIMES; April 4, 2014)

Trade reports say approximately 46 films released in the first quarter of 2014 as opposed to 43 for the same period last year. However, there were only two clear winners — Queen and Ragini MMS 2. Gunday falls in the above average slot, Yaariyan and Hasee Toh Phasee made it to the average slot. And though Salman Khan’s Jai Ho crossed the 100 cr mark, it didn’t bring too much cheer to the distribution circles because the trade has started to expect the sun, moon and stars from Salman.

In Janary to March 2014 Bollywood collected 500 cr. In the corresponding period last year Hindi cinema collected 520 crores.

Check out the laundry list of disasters and you will realise that Bollywood filmmakers have more often got their formula wrong than right. Shaadi Ke Side Effects, Dedh Ishqiya, Sholay 3D, Mr Joe B Carvalho, Karle Pyaar Karle, Heartless, Miss Lovely, Ya Rab, Babloo Happy Hai, Om Dar-Ba-Dar, Paranthe Wali Gali, Kaho Na Kaho, Darr @ The Mall, Dee Saturday Night, Lucky Kabootar, Pyaar Ka Live Show, Anuradha, Gulaab Gang, Total Siyapaa, Bewakoofiyaan, Neighbours, W, Ankhon Dekhi, Gang Of Ghosts, Lakshmi, O Teri and Dishkiyaoon have created such a vacuum in the balance-sheets of producers, that some of them are still wondering why they ventured in the direction of these projects.

Distributor Hemant Shah, attributes the long list of flops to poor content. He says, “The cost of the movies, with print and advertising, too has proved to be unviable. Also, on some days, the matches and exams added to the industry woes.” In the same vein, another distributor adds that no film is small vis-à-vis the cost. “People were depending on Madhuri Dixit’s two films, but they couldn’t run even one week. With the print and publicity expenditure going up, how long can one go on thinking that satellite rights will save the day for you.”

Case in point: Club 60, starring Farooq Shaikh and Sarika. Trade experts state it earned critical acclaim and filled up whatever little shows they had. “But the film got an offer of only 1 crore for the satellite rights,” says the distributor. 

Roshmilla Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; January 3, 2014)

Farooq Shaikh’s last release, Club 60, has re-opened in a noon show at PVR, Lower Parel, and in a theatre belonging to the same chain in Delhi as a tribute to the actor who passed away last Friday in Dubai. “Given that there are three new films flagging off this week, we could only go for a limited release. It was a heart-felt decision,” says Shalu Sabbarwal, vice president, marketing.

Sanjay Tripathy, the director, points out that his film which opened with three daily shows on December 6, was in the theatres till Dhoom 3 upstaged it. “Before word-of-mouth could spread, its two-week theatrical run was over. We’d been getting a lot of enquires which multiplied following Farooq saab’s untimely end, so I asked my distributor if he could get a theatre to agree to a limited second run as a gesture of goodwill since the home video sales are still bring negotiated,” he says.

Sanjay met Farooq for the first time for a documentary on earthquakes. He then played a sutradhar in one of Sanjay’s TV shows and one day, while returning home, he sounded the actor out on Club 60. “He liked the script and suggested Sarika’s name in the role of his wife, urging me to watch Parzania,” says Sanjay.

He recalls the actor warning him that they had to be really careful with his content-driven, performance-oriented film since they couldn’t rely on big names, familiar faces and item numbers to cover up any mistakes. “His favourite saying was, ‘Safed kapde pe daag jaldi nazar aata hai,’” says the filmmaker.

Farooque played Dr Tareeq Sheikh, a neuro-surgeon suffering from acute depression after the death of his only son. Though Sanjay insists Farooq was perfectly cast despite the fact that he was always cheerful on the sets, sharing his love for food, and sweets in particular, the actor admitted to him half-way through the film that he’d have loved to play Raghubir Yadav’s character Manu bhai.

Sanjay wanted him for his next film, Escape To Nowhere, and wanted him to go through former security chief of RAW, Amar Bhushan’s book on which it was based. “But last Saturday I woke up at 6.20 am to a missed called from Satish Shah and a message that read RIP Farooque Shaikh,” he sighs. “Club 60 has lost its most lively member.”

MEANWHILE...
In the next six days, leading directors who had worked with Farooq Sheikh will come together on a common platform to reminisce about their experiences with him. The line-up includes M S Sathyu (Garam Hawa), Raman Kumar (Saath Saath), Dibakar Banerjee (Shanghai), Ketan Mehta (Maya Memsaab), Sai Paranjpe (Chashme Buddoor), Muzzafar Ali (Umrao Jaan), Sagar Sarhadi (Bazaar), Sanjay Puran Singh (Lahore) and Ayan Mukerji (Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani). The discussion will be recorded and hosted in the western suburbs, either at the Iskcon auditorium or the Bhavan's College. The session is the brainchild of Ashoke Pandit, President of the Indian Film and Television Directors’ Association. Deepti Naval, who cut short her trip to Himachal Pradesh to attend Farooq’s last rites, is lending a helping hand. She said, “Ashoke has informed me. But they will have to do it before January 9. Because I have to go back to Himachal.” Farooq and Deepti have worked in eight films together and Listen Amaiya, which released last year, reunited them on screen after 28 years. “Without Deepti, the tribute will be incomplete. So we will all meet up before January 9,” said Pandit.
    —Vickey Lalwani