After a point some big names in the film industry are reduced to a pale shadow of themselves. Rajesh Khanna and Dev Anand, are referred to by a generation of filmgoers more for their funny mannerisms than the charisma they once exuded. The problem was they were not able to laugh at their image on and off screen. Gulshan Grover can. Soon he will be seen playing a hero called Badman a web film directed by Soumik Sen for Viacom18’s new online venture Voot.
“The iconic villain has disappeared from the screen. The idea is more or less dead. Now the new lot of intelligent filmmakers and writers are missing its presence. They took the title of an iconic villain and turned into a feature film and used the same actor to play the role but at same time made it fun and contemporary. It is not nostalgia. It is not bhoole-bisre geet ,” says Grover sitting in Flyp@MTV, a place for the young and happening. His boy is carrying half-a-dozen cotton jackets. After each interview, Grover changes the jacket without any persuasion. “I have been doing it for years. If you turn up in one shirt you can’t expect 10 papers and 40 channels to write about you. It is my responsibility to give a different quote and a different pose to each publication. I think it is an extension of my profession.”
Coming to the plot, Grover say he is playing Badman but he is the hero. Finally, I say. “It is the revenge of the villain. They have put me in an imaginary situation where other actors are referring me as Gulshan Grover. It is like a film within a film.” There are lot of actors and even film critics playing themselves in the film. Rishi Kapoor, perhaps from experience, advises him to play an old man, while Farah Khan spills his age. “Farah got carried way! Nobody is spared, though. Seasoned villains musing over their sudden demise on screen make fun of director Soumik Sen for casting Juhi Chawla as a villain in Gulab Gang . They feel after actors even heroines are eating into their territory. This is an interesting way of mixing reality with imaginary situations.”
On the experience of working in a web series, Grover clarifies that it is a feature film. “In airplanes it will be shown as a film, in countries outside India it will be released as a feature film and in film festivals it will compete as a feature film. It is only in India that it will be showcased as a web film in four parts.”
He feels people have little clarity about digital entertainment. “There was a time when every washing powder was called Surf. Today, everything on a digital platform is described as a web series. Over the years audience of digital are being fed stale films. Here is a courageous studio, which knows if they are going to be our new audience, why feed them yesterday’s food. They have raised the bar by making a proper film with a proper director and proper stars.”
Talking about the risk in switching mediums, Grover says he has never shied away from challenges. “Of course, it takes guts to listen critics in the film saying that audience will throw rotten eggs at Gulshan Grover. Whatever the media might say, I tried to make a career in Hollywood when only theatre actors or actors from parallel cinema tried it. Today, the audience is moving so fast and leaving no trace. A film like B.A. Pass was a hit but the latest instalment of Kya Kool Hain Hum was a disaster. Vicky Donor was successful but nobody turned up for Shaukeens . So you never know.”
As for the quirky take, Grover relied on Soumik and writer Anubav Pal. “Soumik has done Shakespearean plays, plays sarod and is very today. My only point is that I am against vulgarity and double meaning dialogues.”
At 60, Grover doesn’t miss the days when he was among the top villains of the industry, when characters like Kesariya Vilayati were written for him by the likes of Subhash Ghai. “Nobody can do it better than me,” says Grover in reference to the remake of Ram Lakhan but goes on to add, “When we are running we don’t look at the beautiful house or tree that just passed by. It is just a glance. It is over. We set our target and run. I clearly have no memory of the period.” But that was a golden period for him. “If you consider it golden, you will get stuck under a neem ka ped on a charpoy where you will keep saying hamare time main aisa hot tha. Such actors are nuisance on the sets. I have enormous respect for today’s actors. We learnt on job. Today’s actors can’t afford to. There are hundreds who are coming through reality shows. Everybody is ready. Today they put the camera on the face and tell me Gulshan ji chalega . Madhubala and Rekha never set on the sets like this.”
The only thing that he misses is a “little more peaceful way of working and little more friendlier way of hanging out at nights.” And vision? “Today’s generation shoots a lot extra and relies on editing. If Subhash Ghai was doing it, he was doing it on expensive film. On digital it doesn’t cost much to delete. Shooting extra has become a norm. You always eat extra in buffet; try doing this in a la carte and it will pinch you,” sums up Grover as he hastily moves out of the café but not before being mobbed by the young staff for a bout of selfies and yes, they want him to say “Bad man” in his characteristic style. Nostalgia, anyone!
