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Between a good actor and bad actor
BLURB: Bollywood's favourite Mama Saurav Shukla is busy juggling between acting and script-writing. Sitting with K. KANNAN, he talks about his film career....
``I enjoy playing both positive and negative roles and as long as the importance of my character is there in the film, it does not matter.''
Remember ``Kallu Mama'' of ``Satya'' fame, whose `` Goli maar bheje mein'' is still fondly recalled whenever a mention is made anywhere about the film? Well, Bollywood's favourite Mama was equally impressive as Mahima Chaudhary's uncle in the recently-released ``Yeh Tera Ghar Ye Mera Ghar''.
``I consider acting to be very sporty. You go in front of the camera and it just happens,'' says the Bollywood strongman Saurav Shukla, who has logged an impressive record of nearly 25 films after ``Satya''. ``I really enjoyed doing ``Satya''. It is a film which brought me utmost satisfaction.''
While the ``bad guy'' role is something that comes to him naturally, he has appeared in many character roles as well. ``Dil Pe Mat Le Yaar'', `` Hey Ram'', ``Snip'', ``Taal'', ``Nayak'' -- the list is indeed long. ``I enjoyed playing the character of a gangster in `Snip'. It was the role of a man who never had a woman in his life. That is until he lands up in a woman's house one day,'' says Saurav, who has his roots in theatre. ``Even in `Dil Pe Mat Le Yaar', it was a very complex character.''
Juggling between acting and script-writing, Saurav has proven time and again that he is equally adept at both. ``I wrote the script for films like `Satya', `Dil Pe Mat Le Yaar' and `Nayak' and now I have written the script for the Sudhir Mishra-directed `Kolkata Mail', '' he informs. ``Writing gives me a lot of pain, but once a film gets made and the story unfolds on the big screen, it brings me satisfaction,'' he says.
Interestingly, Saurav is playing the role of a pimp in ``Kolkata Mail'' which has Anil Kapoor, Rani Mukherjee and Manisha Koirala in the lead roles. While he will be seen in the role of a kind hearted professor in ``Yeh Dil'', the film ``Mere Yaar Ki Shaadi Hai'' being made under the Yash Chopra banner has a role tailor-made for him -- a kind-hearted bachelor with a love story of his own in a larger tale of love and romance. Yet another film that he is doing with Sudhir Mishra is presently untitled but it has Sanjay Dutt in the lead role.
``Acting is nothing but reacting. The difference between a good actor and a bad actor is that while the former listens to his co-actors, the latter just blabbers on the screen,'' says Saurav. ``Every character is important for me and whether it is acting out a role or writing a script, I try and round off all the characters.''
While he continues to write for films, it is acting that has come to represent his passion and mainstay. ``The industry knew me as an actor before they discovered the writer in me,'' he points out. ``I hate writing because it tires me a lot. And well, I like taking short naps during work.''
Presently, Saurav has also ventured into a third area that has been his forte while doing theatre -- direction. ``I am directing a film for myself which is titled `Jaaneman Janle Tu,' he says, adding: ``Direction is fulfilling as it combines within its ambit the best of acting and the best of writing. It is as much a physical process as an internal one.''
With both commercial and art films coming his way, Saurav says he sees no strict demarcation between the two. ``Any film which works is a commercial film for me. I enjoy playing both positive and negative roles and as long as the importance of my character is there in the film, it does not matter.''
While his commitment to theatre has at present taken a backseat to his Bollywood career, Saurav recently composed music for a play on Radha. ``I have been an actor, playwright and director and in 1991, I was part of the NSD repertory. Whatever I am today is due to the fact that my roots are in theatre,'' the down-to-earth film artist says.
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