After more than two decades in films, Samir Soni finds himself at a crossroads. In a recent post, he made it clear that he no longer wishes to remain on the sidelines. “I would rather quit acting than play a good brother, husband, father or any other supporting role. After waiting for over 25 years, it’s my time to play the lead now,” he wrote.

The candid admission reflects a long-building restlessness. Despite being part of notable films like the recent Khuli Kitaab and sharing screen space with some of the industry’s biggest names, Samir says his journey has often felt constrained. “How long will I continue to do supporting roles?” he asks — a question that, by his own account, has lingered for years.

One of his earliest setbacks came with his debut film, China Gate, where much of his role was cut during editing. “On the editing table, my whole role got chopped off,” he recalls. The experience, he says, set a pattern. “The worst part if anything happens on the editing table, the first thing that goes is the supporting character,” he says.

The actor remembers a formative piece of advice from the late Om Puri that shaped his understanding of the craft. “He said, ‘We are supporting actors. Our job is to support the main protagonist and antagonist, to prop up the main leads.’”

While he acknowledges this reality, he admits it can be frustrating. “There’s not that much importance given to the supporting cast. Their job is to make sure the main leads shine,” shares Samir.

Over the years, he has worked alongside stalwarts, holding his own in scenes. Yet, he feels that hasn’t translated into substantial roles. “If indeed I’m that good to stand my own against big actors, how come no one thinks of backing me with a decent character which has more depth?” he asks. Even when he delivers, he adds, the final cut often sidelines his contribution. “You’re just there to be the catalyst to move them forward.”

He sums up his career with a striking cricket analogy: “I’m like a 12th man who never gets to bat. I’ll be in every team but I never get to play a match.” Despite the frustration, Samir remains grateful for the opportunities he has had. “Not many people can boast of playing the son to Amitabh Bachchan and Hema Malini, and years later to Pankaj Kapur and Dimple Kapadia,” he says.

What he now seeks are layered, emotionally complex roles. “I like roles which have more angst, more layered, more complete,” he says, adding, “even non-lead parts can leave a lasting impact if written well.”

Divya Dutta (left) as Shabbo in with Preity Zinta in Veer Zaara (2004)

Itishree Misra (BOMBAY TIMES; December 16, 2019)

On the last day of a recently concluded literature festival, filmmaker, singer, composer Vishal Bhardwaj shared his thoughts on an array of subjects. With acclaimed films like Haider, Maqbool and Omkara to his credit, the recipient of seven National Film Awards in various categories offered some insights into the contextual relation between his work and Shakespeare’s plays. He commented on the factors that drove him to adapt certain works of the Bard with an Indian context.

Vishal elaborated, “I realised that I cannot get the depth in plot lines and character study that Shakespeare achieved. Hence, I thought of recreating his works in the Indian context because a good storyline transcends caste, creed and nationality.” The filmmaker, who was born and educated in Meerut in his formative years, added that seeing a lot of gangsters in the city was crucial to his adaptation of Othello into Omkara, which was filmed in Lucknow. He also underlined the importance of using local dialect in a movie and the portrayal of characters, while criticising Bollywood for sticking to ‘filmy’ language.

Insisting that he wanted to tackle social issues in India with the plot lines that Shakespeare created, the filmmaker also spoke about Kashmir, which was at the core of his film, Haider, starring Shahid Kapoor. “It’s essential to bring the issue of the Kashmir valley into focus. For an issue that is historic, complicated and massive, it’s vastly under-represented in Indian cinema. Most of the work that has been done on this subject has been through an outsider’s perspective. Hence, I wanted to delve into a fresh perspective, the inner perspective of the valley. That’s why I set the story of Haider, based on Shakespeare’s Hamlet, in the state.”

Talking about his first film, Maqbool, which was adapted from Macbeth, Vishal delved deep into the police officers played by Om Puri and Naseeruddin Shah. “In the traditional style, the witches would have probably been shown as aghoris, but mera aur mere co-writer ka yeh idea tha ki jo bhi log hain, woh hamare ird-gird ke hi log hain, so we should make the witches people whom we encounter frequently, and those who are an integral part of our society. So usmein sabse pehle yeh hi aaya ki cops make the best witches, which they prove every day as you all see. Iss tarah Om Puri aur Naseer sahab Maqbool ki witches bane.”

As the evening progressed, Vishal narrated some of his poetic works to the audience, while expressing his nervousness to narrate them in front of Nana Patekar, who was seated with the audience. In reference to his inclination towards poetry, he gave an anecdote from the sets of Haider. Vishal said, “In Haider, there was a dialogue of two-three lines that was supposed to be recited by Irrfan. It was one of the poetic verses derived from Shakespeare’s Hamlet. However, Irrfan didn’t quite like the dialogue, and couldn’t connect with it. So, in that moment, I decided to rewrite that whole poetic sequence, which I believe, turned out to be one of the strongest cuts of the movie.”

When the house opened up for questions, the audience asked him to speak about the stylistic variation across his works and how he sees those differences in the context of his repertoire as a filmmaker. Vishal responded, saying, “Ek artiste ka sabse bada darr hota hai ki usko kisi ek cage mein na qaid kar diya jaye, ya ek category mein na daal diya jaye. I try to explore a lot of genres and make a conscientious effort to explore varying subjects. That’s why main consciously try karta hoon ki meri har film ka subject alag ho.”

Nana Patekar, at that point, casually asked Vishal, “Main kab kaam kar sakta hoon tumhare saath? Aur kitne saal mujhe wait karna padega yeh jaanne ke liye ki main bhi thoda sa actor hoon? Zara soch ke jawaab dena, main bahut serious hoon.” Looking embarrassed and delighted simultaneously, Vishal said, “Ismein sochne wali koi baat hi nahi hai. Main aapka fan hoon, aur aapko yeh pata bhi hai, lekin main usko abhi tak prove nahi kar paya hoon. I’m looking forward to working with you.”

The audience also asked Vishal to elaborate on how art could potentially influence the society. The filmmaker replied, “Yeh kaam art ka nahi hain na, yeh kaam toh janta ka hai... Art ka kaam hai aaina dikhana, art ka kaam talwar leke maarna nahi hai. It’s the job of the people to draw a meaning out of art and evaluate their choices. The job of art is to hold a mirror to the society instead of attempting to make the decisions for the audience. That decision-making is based on the fabric of the nation.”

— With inputs from Yashi Agarwal

Renuka Vyavahare (BOMBAY TIMES; November 27, 2019)

One of Bollywood’s finest actors, Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s work has been getting global acclaim for a while now. In fact, he was felicitated at various international film festivals recently. In a chat with BT from New York, Nawaz spoke about crossing borders, overcoming language barriers and what he thinks he needs to work on at this stage of his career. Read on...

You were conferred the prestigious Lesley Ho Asian Film Talent Award at the Singapore International Film Festival recently, for your contribution to International cinema (for International Emmy-nominated original series Sacred Games).You were also honoured with the Golden Dragon Award at the Cardiff International Film Festival for excellence in cinema in the international market. And your British show McMafia won the Best Drama Series at International Emmys. Are you now aware of how popular your work is globally?
People abroad have seen my films, but the mass connect and reach of Sacred Games was perhaps higher. Unko Ganesh Gaitonde ka kirdar mazedaar laga. Initially, I wasn’t aware of the reach it had globally. Dheere dheere mujhe pata chala that people have seen it across the world and they have liked my character. Even Paulo Coelho wrote to me about it. Being appreciated by him was most special to me. I admire his writing a lot. I remember when we shot the show’s second season in Nairobi, there was a lot of frenzy around it. Even when I shot for Roam Rome Mein in Italy, people would come to me and talk about that show. It feels good to know that people from other countries are also appreciating my work. Sacred Games was nominated and my British gangster series McMafia won the Best Drama Series at International Emmys. This feels great.

What is it about your characters that you think appeals to the global audience and filmmakers?
Many people, and a lot of young filmmakers, want to see experimental cinema. All good films may not work at the box office, but they give you worldwide recognition. A well-made film never dies, and good work never goes unnoticed. Kabhi Kabhi toh lagta hai ki apun hi Bhagwan hai — people make me say this dialogue (from Sacred Games) a lot, so much that I am bored of it now. Jo bolne mein mazaa nahi aaya, wohi popular ho jaata hain. Maine woh dialogue bola bhi kharab tha. I could have said it better, with more thehrav, but people loved it. On the contrary, I loved my dialogues and the writing in Manto, but shaayad logon ne woh samjha hi nahi, ya phir difficult dialogue logon se boley nahi jaate. It is possible that those Urdu lines weren’t easy to emulate, and so, didn’t get as popular. But all of us still remember Dilip Kumar saab’s lines from Mughal-E-Azam. There was a lot of Urdu in that, too, so you can’t predict what people will or won’t like.

Cinema has no boundaries or language barriers per se, but it is always challenging for an actor to get the language or accent right when he/she does foreign language shows or films, isn’t it?
My upcoming international film, No Land’s Man is in English. Roam Rome Mein was predominantly an English film, too. English mein acting karna aasan hai. Om Puri wasn’t very fluent in English either. He was a hardcore Punjabi, but he has perhaps done maximum international films and his work was appreciated because he was a good actor. For one, the problem occurs when you try and copy their accent.

You recently said, ‘I only take criticism from people of my standard.’ It’s too strong a statement to make...
Aaj kal social media par har koi critic ban jaata hai. Let the film critics do their job. You need a certain understanding of cinema to be able to analyse a film, and that comes with certain years of experience and knowledge of cinema. I am always open to criticism, but you need to earn that right. Anyone can’t pass an opinion as a review and say, ‘I give this film 2 stars.’ It reminds me of my Sacred Games dialogue, ‘Har koi Bhagwaan banke baitha hai’ (laughs!).

Naseeruddin Shah talks about the past, present and future of his theatre group, Motley, which celebrates its 40 years this month
Deepali Singh (DNA; July 15, 2019)

Circa 1978. Naseeruddin Shah and Benjamin Gilani sat in a small coffee shop in Lucknow and decided to make plays that aroused their curiosity. On July 29, 1979, they opened their first play, Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot at the newly-inaugurated Prithvi Theatre in Juhu, although they didn’t have a name in mind for their group yet. Forty years and 42 productions hence, Motley continues to stage plays that resonate with them. They are now staging some of their most popular ones, including Manto Ismat Haazir Hain, Aurat Aurat Aurat, Dear Liar and Ismat Apa Ke Naam among others, and also doing a couple of readings at the Motleyana Festival to celebrate the milestone. We caught up with Naseer to tell us more…

The line in the 40 years celebration logo, ‘In Godot We Trust’, is quite apt for Motley. Who came up with it?
I did! It’s actually a meme that’s going around. Initially, there was something about the 40-year celebrations but I wanted this motto because if it hadn’t been for Waiting For Godot, Motley wouldn’t have existed. We owe Godot a great deal. We performed it for so many years. We will be reading portions from it for one of the shows and introducing all the actors who were in it — those who are still alive and around. Some who are not in India will be sending video messages. The people who played the boy are now all grown up, like Akarsh Khurana, Imaad (Shah, his son) and others. We will talk about the fun we had doing the play. I believe people should attempt drama they don’t necessarily understand. The process occurs only when you tackle the script.

Can you rewind to the early days of performing it?
There was no Motley name when we first performed it! Om (Puri) had a theatre group called Majma for which I had done several plays. We didn’t have a banner, so he said, ‘Do it for Majma’.

It wasn’t a particularly tough time. Ben chose Godot because he thought it would be a practical play to do, not because of its greatness. He said it’s just four men and we needed a child actor. He knew cinematographer Ishan Arya had a 10-year-old son called Sameer, so, we went ahead with it. The play was so difficult to comprehend and we didn’t know what the hell we were doing! Gradually, the references to Chaplin, circus, religion and all began to strike us. So, we tried to convey those as best as we could. I think it cost us around Rs 3000. We had to get one suit made, while the rest of us were in rags. We just produced our old clothes for that.

Please continue...
We didn’t expect it to make money but we did it because we wanted to do it and found more and more meaning to it. Then it began to get us revenue with full houses in Prithvi Theatre and other venues. And that’s how Motley established itself. I don’t remember it as being a very traumatic time. Tom (Alter) had a very large apartment in Juhu and we would often rehearse at his or Ben’s place. Sometimes, while working with Om, we have rehearsed on local trains, buses, at Juhu Beach, wherever we could find space. Looking back, even then it was great fun as we were doing what we loved.

Can you tell us about the influence theatre doyens Ebrahim Alkazi and Satyadev Dubey had on your works?
I spent my childhood in places like Ajmer, Aligarh, Meerut and Nainital. I studied at Aligarh University, where I met some inspiring teachers who introduced me to modern literature and encouraged my dreams. The plays we did there were shabby productions. There were hardly any resources or money. Then a teacher of mine took me to National School of Drama in Delhi and I was dazzled by the plays I saw! I didn’t know theatre like this happened in India but Alkazi was doing it. They were spectacular productions staged at the Red Fort and Talkatora Stadium, with a cast of 50-60 people. Every detail, right from the rings and shoes they wore, was looked after. That is what I have absorbed from him.

Then I saw Dubey’s plays. He often did works that Alkazi had done, but with no budgets at all. I consider his production of Hayavadana as one of the most memorable things I’ve seen on stage. There were Amrish Puri, Amol Palekar, Priya Tendulkar and Kalpana Lajmi among others. It was a spectacular play with nothing on stage but the actors. He and Alkazi detested each other and I can understand why now (laughs). I’ve learnt from both equally but I follow Dubey’s path. I want to do what he did — to reach out to an intimate audience, do plays that sock you in the gut, not ones which dazzle you. There are so many rudiments of staging I picked up from them. Alkazi was a genius at crowd scenes, while Dubey was great at handling actors and creating moments of dynamism on stage. The value of the word is what I learnt from Dubey most.

You rely a lot on the spoken word…
I love the spoken word. I believe it is the most important thing on stage. I admire well-spoken languages, whichever they may be. I’m not dismissing physical theatre. I admire it but unfortunately, I’m incapable of doing it. So, I stick to what I am good at — the spoken word.

What’s the one thing that’s been a constant for Motley in these 40 years?
To do the plays that we want to do. We once tried to do a crowd-pleaser — The Odd Couple. That was at a time when comedies were popular and we wanted to make some funds. All we did was lose money because nobody came to see it (laughs). So, we want to do the plays we feel the urge to do and that’s a rule we have followed. Sometimes we succeeded, sometimes we failed. Doing Julius Caesar was a dream I had since school. We attempted it, we failed. I think I was a little muddled in my head as to what kind of play it should be. It was part Alkazi, part Dubey. The mix didn’t work.

Is there a play on your wish list?
Saint Joan by George Bernard Shaw that I will certainly do at some point. It needs 15 male actors, all of whom have extremely important parts. It’s a tough task to find 15 outstanding male actors who can speak well. I’m also yet to find an actress who can play Joan. I’m gradually accumulating the cast but I want to be certain how to do the play, so I haven’t launched into it.


The actor with Ratna Pathak Shah in Dear Liar


Akash Khurana and Benjamin Gilani in Waiting For Godot