When Johny Lever is on stage, there’s never a dull moment. This was on display during his recent interaction at the Pune International Film Festival (PIFF) where he conducted a masterclass on the topic of ‘Humour in cinema’.

Speaking about his journey, Lever said, “Comedy is something that cannot be taught. It can be improved with practice, but if you’ve got it in you, it will come out naturally.”

From stage shows to acting in over 400 films, Lever’s name has become synonymous with comedy. However, he shared that acting was challenging. “I didn’t have knowledge about acting. I wouldn’t understand how to give actions or reactions because it requires you to get into the character. That was a challenge for me. I mimicked actors like Ashok Kumar, Jeevan and Jagdeep, but the transition to acting was difficult and I struggled for 12 years to get that right,” he said.

Recalling a time when he was trying to do a scene for director K Balachander’s film, Lever shared, “During the scene, K Balachander asked, ‘Yeh kaun hai?’. That gave me sleepless nights. So, I tried to learn and now when I’m called for films and someone asks who the writer is, people say ‘Writer kyun? Johny Lever hai na. Woh kar lega.’ But yes, there were times when I would go on the set and start acting and people would tell me ki bhaiya camera toh idhar hai.”

Lever said he considers Charlie Chaplin as his godfather and the late comedian Johnny Walker as a man with profound knowledge. Lever also added that comedy was a serious business and not everyone can do it. “But nowadays directors and writers lack the discipline and compromise on content. One cannot just make people laugh at trivial things. Comedy must be ingrained in a person and comedians are born with it. Reacting to other actors’ is an important trait for comedians on screen and that’s something I learned through observation during shoots,” said Lever.

Finally, talking about why he prefers to stick to comedy, he said, “Main serious roles kyun karoon? Even when I’m at a funeral, people will look at me and laugh.”

Vidya Balan is often called the ‘hero’ of her films. The actress, who has proven her mettle in ‘female-centric’ films, a tag she is fine to be associated with, recently spoke at the session, ‘The Challenges of Female Actors in the Entertainment World’ at the Pune International Film Festival (PIFF). From the perception of actresses in the industry to recalling the time when she felt that her career was almost over, Vidya spoke about a range of topics during the session.

With films like Sherni and Tumhari Sulu to her credit, Vidya said that she likes to take up films that offer her roles of substance. “Why can’t actresses do roles that are not just defined by the role of the male hero?” questioned Vidya, adding, “Today, female actors are doing a brilliant variety of work. On the other hand, roles for male actors are stereotyped. When it comes to male roles, you’re either the hero or the victim, but with female roles, you get to see the entire journey of the character. I always look for roles where I can be the centre of the universe and get the chance to do something that I haven’t done before.”

Addressing a perception that has taken shape after the OTT boom, Vidya shared, “People say that it’s safer to release female-centric films on OTT platforms.”

Vidya says, “We have to realize that no one kind of film is doing well. So, you cannot decide that female-centric films have a lower chance of succeeding in cinemas. This perception really bothers me.” 

When asked if categorizing films as ‘female-centric’ defeats the purpose of creating an equal space, Vidya added, “Since it’s not the norm, we need to specify films as female-centric and so on. I don’t mind the tag. We don’t say ‘male-centric’ films but there will come a time when there are enough successful female-driven films and people will stop categorizing them as such.”

Vidya has had her share of highs and lows in the industry, at one time even reaching a point that shattered her. Remembering the phase, Vidya shared that she was ‘thrown out’ of 12 films during the early days of her career. “I was doing a film with Mohanlal and Kamal Haasan, which was shelved for some reason, but I was blamed for it not working out. People believed that I was jinxed. It was also a time when many Malayalam films got shelved due to financial issues. But I didn’t give up and it was Pradeep Sarkar who showed faith in me,” shared Vidya.

Vidya also spoke about issue-based films and actors making political statements. She said, “Why do we expect actors to make political statements? We are here to entertain; let politicians make the statements. I don’t want to do issue-based films. I feel that there is pseudo-intellectualism in them. I think we should look at human stories.”

The actress, who has also been part of masala entertainers in the past, added that she ‘sleepwalked through some films that were commercial hits’.