On New Year’s Eve in 1994, celebrations were at full swing in Andheri’s Ramesh Nagar Society. Action director Sham Kaushal and his friends occupied the front row to catch dance performances by the children in the building. One item that struck a chord with Sham was a Prabhudeva number by his sons Vicky and Sunny. They set the stage on fire with their moves. Sham was pleasantly surprised to see them perform and had no idea how they managed to pick up the steps. “I was so emotional after their performance that I went to my apartment to fetch a few bottles of alcohol and turned my car’s boot into a bar. Being a Punjabi, celebration for us means opening a bottle of alcohol.”
Far from filmi
Surprisingly, the Kaushal home wasn’t very film-oriented. Despite their father’s association with films, the boys never voiced their interest in them. They rarely visited him at shoots and never tagged along for film events. “The first time we went to a shooting at Film City was when he got to act for the first time,” says Sunny, the younger Kaushal who debuted last year in Sunshine Music Tours and Travels. Sunny was alluding to Sham’s accidental acting break in Santhosh Sivan’s Asoka. When an actor didn’t turn up for the shoot, Shah Rukh Khan and Sivan convinced Sham to play the role. “It was a small role where my character fights Shah Rukh’s character, Asoka. The next time my sons visited me at work was when I was shooting for Fiza. They wanted to get clicked with Hrithik Roshan,” he says.
Sham, who recently coordinated the stunts for Aamir Khan’s Dangal and is action director for the upcoming Hrithik Roshan-starrer Kaabil, remembers his sons not being able to sit through the shoot. Vicky says, “I was really bored as it took hours to do just one scene.” The actor, seen last year in Zubaan and Raman Raghav 2.0, came riding on national and international awards, and critical acclaim with his 2015 film Masaan. Vicky initially aspired to be an engineer following his love for mathematics. He joined the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Technology, but soon questioned his career choice. “When I was in my second year of engineering, we were taken for industry visits. On one such visit, I was exposed to the kind of job that would follow my course and I couldn’t see myself doing a nine-to-five for the rest of my life,” says Vicky, who gave a couple of campus interviews and even got a job offer before deciding to turn to acting.
Vicky’s film journey began by tagging along with his father to shoots to pick up the “grammar of filmmaking”. Vicky says, “I was a lanky fellow with crooked teeth, curly hair, and knew that I didn’t fit into the mould of an actor. When I learnt that assistant directors were the ones involved in every aspect of filmmaking, I wanted to try it out.” Like Vicky, Sunny didn’t see himself in a regular job and left his CA dreams two years into his articleship. He then worked as an assistant director on My Friend Pinto before taking up acting lessons. But his first day as an assistant director was far from smooth. “I had never treaded beyond Bandra, and Raaghav Dar, the director of the film, asked me to come to Ballad Pier for the shoot. I had no idea where that was. We were shooting at night and after a couple of hours, I went up to our first AD and asked if that was the last take. He had no idea what I was saying before realising that I was a novice. Later, he sat me down to explain the whole process.”
Stuntman by accident
Sham wasn’t jolted by the career choice of his sons as his own entry into the industry also stemmed from a reluctance to suffer a regular job. He came to Mumbai in the early 80s after completing his Master’s in English Literature from Hoshiarpur in Punjab. He refrained from menial jobs as his family wouldn’t approve. “I have never been scared of hard work. In my village, I travelled long distances on my cycle to complete my Master’s degree.” Sham’s first job in Mumbai was of a travelling salesman for a valve manufacturer. “My father had taken a loan of Rs. 3,000 at five per cent interest to send me to Mumbai, and I couldn’t go back until I had earned enough to pay it off.”
Once he had managed to save enough, he realised he wanted to get out of the daily grind. “I used to share my room in Shastri Nagar in Santa Cruz with Punjabi stunt masters who advised me to consider the profession. They even helped me land my first film, [a Yash Chopra production] Sawaal.” Sham remembers requesting Veeru Devgan to sign his form to join the association. “My first shot was of a police constable in blue uniform at Raj Kamal Studios in September 1980. I knew if I did a good job, I’d get referred for another film,” he says. Following countless stints as a stuntman, Sham turned action director in 1991 for Nana Patekar’s Prahaar: The Final Attack, and later that year for Chandraprakash Dwivedi’s television series Chanakya. Over the years, Sham has been associated with some blockbusters, including top grossers like Bajrangi Bhaijaan and Bajirao Mastani.
The need for hard work
Vicky considers Anurag Kashyap, whom he assisted in Gangs of Wasseypur, as his mentor. “Once, during the shoot of Raman Raghav 2.0, Anurag Sir was looking for his bag. Instinctively, I got up to fetch it. He reprimanded me and reminded me that I was the hero in his film and not an AD [assistant director] any more.” Last seen in the AIB video on sexual harassment, Vicky will be seen next in a film which will mark UTV Group founder Ronnie Screwvala’s debut as an independent film producer. Earlier, when Vicky confessed his desire to be an actor, Sham warned him of the pitfalls. “I wanted to be certain that he wasn’t choosing this career since I was in the industry. I told him clearly that I am just a technician and having me as a father won’t help him get a smooth entry into films. The competition is tough and only hard work counts.” Sham’s only advice for his sons was: “the competition is tough and getting out of the house every morning, whether for audition or to meet people, was essential.”
The brothers often travelled together for screen tests and auditioned for the same role. Vicky says “Once, I had gone for an audition and saw a script page stuck to the door. On reading it I realised it was a typical mandir scene for a Bhojpuri film. I read the scene, laughed and gave it my best shot. Despite being a Bhojpuri film, I tried my luck as I hadn’t auditioned for any role that day. I even called Sunny for the audition. I have given plenty of screen tests in the last five years as the idea was to open up as an actor.”
Vicky reveals the auditions later helped him internalise his character in Raman Raghav 2.0, which he considers his most difficult role till date. Sunny interjects, “It was a great exercise for Vicky and me. We started filtering the roles we auditioned for, only after people started recognising us.” The Kaushals wish to work together in the future, but for now, there are no plans in the pipeline. What Sham is certain of, however, is that he’s glad that his sons have found their way into the industry that has made him the man he is today.
The writer is a freelance journalist
