Sanjay Mishra reacts to praise from author Paulo Coelho; SRK delighted too
Ankita Chaurasia (MUMBAI MIRROR; May 8, 2020)

On Wednesday, The Alchemist author Paulo Coelho praised the Sanjay Mishra-starrer Kaamyaab on Twitter, lauding friend Shah Rukh Khan for presenting it. In response, SRK informed that he watched the film during festival rounds and it struck a chord. “Am so moved you appreciate. It’s a sad truth that character actors get forgotten,” he agreed.

Paulo also commended Sanjay’s performance. “When emotions connect, language is not a problem,” reasons Sanjay, adding, “Neither my mom nor I have read Paulo’s books but I told her he was a famous writer and she said my father would be very proud.” The actor has been receiving congratulatory messages from his dad’s civil services colleagues as well.

The author also mentioned the suicide note of a Brazilian actor, which highlighted the plight of artistes. Many of Sanjay’s friends are jobless since the Coronavirus lockdown. “Those with jobs could lose them and these actors didn’t have one to begin with. Same goes for senior artistes; we write them off irrespective of their contributions. An actor is society’s responsibility too,” he insists.

“This movie, labeled as ‘comedy’, is in fact the tragedy of art,” read Paulo’s tweet. Sanjay agrees that the words ‘paisa vasool’ and ‘timepass’ are the bane of Bollywood with everything packaged as a comic caper. He asserts that if more superstars back small projects, Indian cinema will soon be on the world map. Does he feel kaamyaab now? “Getting a seat in a local train is an achievement too, as is stealing candy from the fridge when your mother is not watching. This success, of course, tastes sweeter,” Sanjay laughs.

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!).