Lilliput raves about his co-star in Hardik Mehta’s film but feels his own turn wasn’t great; admits his inability to learn the industry’s ways led to missed opportunities
Nishi Tiwari (MUMBAI MIRROR; May 18, 2020)

“In India, a dwarf is a lesser human being,” Lilliput had rued while talking to Mirror in November 2017. According to the veteran actor-writer, the Hindi film industry had failed to look beyond his stature, leading to a dearth of work and subsequent financial distress.

Three years on, he has a new story to tell, a story stemming from self-analysis. “On the sets, I would only be concerned with giving the required shot to the best of my ability and making sure to not create glitches. I thought that was enough. But people seek company and acceptance; they want others to laugh at their bad jokes (chuckles). It never occurred to me to do that,” Lilliput explains.

He goes on to admit that he did receive immense love from the industry. “Dharam ji (Dharmendra) and Amit ji (Amitabh Bachchan) were two such people. But I had so much respect for them, I could never talk to them on their level. My respect transcended the normal, which led to misunderstandings. You think of them as Gods, and they think of you as arrogant. It was up to me to clear the air and I didn’t do it,” he rues.

Another incident involves his Saagar co-star, who passed away recently. “I met Rishi Kapoor and he was a lovely and bindaas man—at Mehboob Studio during the prayer meet for Dev saab (Dev Anand). He started abusing me, saying, ‘You’re such a good actor, why aren’t you working? You must!’ Before I could respond, Vinod Khanna arrived and the two proceeded to go inside. I wanted to tell him that I couldn’t grasp the grammar of the industry, that’s why I am unable to find work.”

He was recently seen in Hardik Mehta’s Sanjay Mishra-starrer Kaamyaab in an extended cameo and is all praise for the character actor-turned-leading man—“Sanjay has outdone himself and should win National Award, Filmfare Award, all the awards for this one,” Lilliput says. But he isn’t too happy with his own turn: “I didn’t perform well. There wasn’t any scene that required performing. Some people told me it was nice and I keep wondering what was so great about it.”

Financially, he is “not comfortable, but not too uncomfortable either”. “I didn’t earn a lot. I never reached the Rs 30,000-Rs 50,000 per day bracket like some and teetered between 18-20 k. Even that would come after 90 days. Sustenance wasn’t difficult as I never had expensive habits, like drinking, smoking or courting girls. And I know I won’t start to look like Hrithik Roshan if I wear expensive clothes,” he notes.

Meanwhile, he revisited Dekh Bhai Dekh on TV recently. “I only watched the bits I liked, for instance, the first episode, and the ones with Suzy, Mithaiwala and Jhopda. I was required to be on set all the time. As an actor and writer, I’d tell the cast which dialogue had to be said with what intonation. Shekhar (Suman, co-star) and I would joke around the sets,” he reminisces.

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.”