A strong breeze passes through the outside seating of the eighth floor at the Red Chillies Entertainment office in Santa Cruz. Actor Sanjay Mishra jokingly asks if I’m allergic to cigarettes before starting to light one. But a gust of wind thwarts his attempts. With the cigarette lit and perched between his fingers, he sits back in a chair, setting the tone for an interview in Hindi that’s relaxed, free-wheeling, and clearly being guided by a story teller.
This week, the actor will be seen in Hardik Mehta’s Kaamyaab – a story about a 65-year-old bit-part actor, played by Mishra, returning from retirement to do his 500th role. “Sudheer is a bad actor,” Mishra says about his character, suddenly breaking into a cackle – acting out the caricature of an evil villain laughing, “He plays those mediocre, stereotyped roles.” Mishra adds that Sudheer, who saw popularity in the 70s and 80s has to relearn his space in contemporary Indian cinema. “He struggles with that. Ek bujhte hue diye ko vaapas se jalane ki koshish hai – Kaamyaab (It’s an attempt to rekindle a dimming lamp).”
Closer home
For Mishra, playing Sudheer was a no-brainer, “Because this is the story of my industry – which I live and breathe. This is my own story.” Mishra himself has often been a face within ensemble casts. The National School of Drama graduate found immense popularity with his comedic roles in ensemble films – whether on the sitcom Office Office (2001) as Shukla, in Rohit Shetty’s Golmaal series, or Indra Kumar’s Dhamaal (2007). But he proved to be just as comfortable in serious roles – like the conservative father in Masaan (2015) – and also as a protagonist – whether as Bauji, the patriarch of a joint family in Rajat Kapoor’s Ankhon Dekhi (2014), or a blind farmer in Kadvi Hawa (2017). But Mishra is no stranger to being labelled a “character actor”.
“It’s not the audiences [who slot actors this way], it’s the makers,” he says, “These [labels] came up in the 70s and 80s when a kind of film was popular – with one hero and one heroine who fell in love.” But Mishra adds that he’s both relieved and excited to see cinema change increasingly – to focus on being content-oriented and pivoting around more layered characters instead of formulae. He points to Kaamyaab as an example.
Pause life
While Sudheer in the film gets wrapped up in numbers, I ask Mishra how many films he has done, and he says simply, “I don’t count the rotis I eat, nor do I do work by counting [my roles], but someone had mentioned to me, 173.’” Despite the years being packed with releases, Mishra ensures he takes a pause frequently. It’s a habit that may have found its roots over a decade ago when Mishra had to recover from the sudden passing of his father, around the release of the comedy Aloo Chaat (2009).
“I wanted to leave everything,” he says about the time, “I had gone blank – there was a vacuum in my life. I had been cast in that role,” he says explaining that he had recently recovered from a difficult illness when he lost his father unexpectedly. Mishra remembers asking his father’s friend at the funeral, “When did the casting change?”
The actor then withdrew to Rishikesh and worked in a dhaba, before his family and director Rohit Shetty asked him to return to the life he had left. But Mishra still ensures he takes frequent breaks, “To find that emptiness. It’s important to pause for a minute and just think about who you are, where you’ve reached, where you’re headed. Think about those around you.” He often seeks out unknown faces who don’t know him either, and has uninhibited conversations with strangers.
Characters that resonate
It’s this trait of listening that makes him feel close to Bauji, his character in Ankhon Dekhi, “Because he says listen, look, learn,” since Bauji chooses to only believe in what he sees, and nothing else. With genuine conviction he adds Sudheer to this list of characters that resonate with him deeply.
Wrapping up, the actor rattles off a long list of films he’ll soon be seen in – Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2, Gwalior, Death on a Sunday, 108 Limited, Colour Black, and Holy Cow. On how he singles out his projects, Mishra says, “There’s no thinking behind it. Whichever feels close to the heart – every film [becomes] a turning point for me.”
