Intensive Kher

Ahead of a press conference to promote his new TV show, veteran actor Anupam Kher arrives at a five-star suburban hotel in a cool checked shirt and jeans. “I need to have a shave and trim my hair before the event,” he instructs his PR team. Staring at his shiny, bald pate in amazement, I quietly ask, “But, sir, what is left to trim?” As soon as the words leave my mouth, I fear I have breached the line with a senior actor. Flashing a youthful smile, he points to a few stray hair which, I can say with certainty, are not easy to spot. “For me, even this much is a crew cut,” he insists.

This year, Kher completes three decades in the film industry, with appearances in 480 films. In his next release, Yash Raj Film’s Daawat-e-Ishq , he stars alongside young guns Parineeti Chopra and Aditya Roy Kapur. Earlier this year, he was seen in Main Tera Hero starring Varun Dhawan and Nargis Fakhri. But the 59-year-old doesn’t like being pegged as a veteran among fresh blood. Instead, he sees himself as an equal. “This generation has a tendency to make you feel like a has-been. It’s not out of disrespect, but why would they remember something I did in the ’80s? So I want to beat them at that. My competition is with Aditya Roy Kapur,” he says.

In his talk show The Anupam Kher Show — Kucch Bhi Ho Sakta Hai on Colors , the actor chats up heavyweights such as Shah Rukh Khan, Mahesh Bhatt, Yuvraj Singh and Kangna Ranaut, among others. Even though he is interviewing former colleagues and friends, Kher says each of their lives has come as a revelation to him. “When I was trying to be an actor in the city, I used to read a lot of biographies, and the first half used to be about the struggle of the person. I have met these people only in a work-oriented situation. I wanted to know them as people. They trusted me and spoke to me very candidly,” he says. Kher believes his own chequered past helps him identify with his subjects. In fact, he’s even written a play, Kucch Bhi Ho Sakta Hain (Anything is possible), on his journey to showbiz. “When I was in drama school, I’d write my name on benches. I hoped that many years later, people will see it and think, ‘Anupam Kher once sat here’,” he says.

Interestingly, Kher’s debut role was meant to be that of a crazy ‘disco killer’ in the cult classic Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron . He even shot for the film, but his character was done away with in the final edit. “I wanted to kill the director (Kundan Shah). It was a great role. I remember I met him outside Prithvi Theatre and he casually told me, ‘ Arre, tera role kaatna para ’ (I had to remove your character). I was tempted to take a brick and run after him,” he laughs. Soon after, he landed the lead role in Mahesh Bhatt’s award-winning film Saaransh (1984). This, too, he nearly lost to Sanjeev Kumar. But the angst and bitterness he felt during that phase was put to good use. Kher was only 28 when he delivered his convincing portrayal of a retired man coping with the loss of his son. “I was mad and obsessed. I got the part with great difficulty and was thrown out 10 days before the shoot for Sanjeev Kumar. When we started filming, I didn’t know what it felt like to have a son. All I told myself was, ‘ Agar yeh film nahi chali, main barbaad ho jaaunga ’ (If this film fails, I’ll be doomed). That thought brought tears to my eyes, and I put that angst into the story,” he explains.

After this rocky start, Kher has consistently delivered unforgettable performances in films such as Daddy , Maine Gandhi ko Nahi Maara , Bend it Like Beckham and Khosla ka Ghosla , to name a few. He’s also directed a film, opened an acting school, written a book and done over a hundred plays. Most recently, he made a short film, I Went Shopping for Robert De Niro , in all of nine days. With his TV show, he hopes to keep adding to his impressive repertoire.

So what keeps him going? “It has to be life. I find it very fascinating. My work gives me maximum gratification. That’s what keeps me young and active,” he says, before sprinting off for that pending trim and shave.

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