Saurabh Shukla is excited about his “dark, intense and villainish” turn in Sudhir Mishra’s upcoming Daas Dev , a film that according to him is as much Shakespeare’s Hamlet as it is Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay’s Devda s. “My character comes from Hamlet . I am the equivalent of Hamlet’s uncle,” he tells us, before deconstructing the craft of acting for our readers.
Acting is…
Truly speaking acting is reacting. The better you react, the better [an] actor you are. But you have to be aware of what is happening around you. So you are also listening, not just learning your own lines. It’s like the way we are talking, nothing has been decided but I am reacting to what you are saying.
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Is it pretence or alternate reality?
It is alternate reality. Pretence is something that in your head is a lie. Acting is not a lie.
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The most rewarding thing about being an actor?
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Money with no responsibility.
The most frustrating thing about it?
You have to wait long hours. Just to give you a perspective, on the sets everyone works 12 hours, or at least eight hours. The actual time for an actor to work is just five to six minutes. Rest is all waiting. It’s like a hunter, sitting and waiting for the prey to come.
The one quality an actor must possess…
I’ll put it this way: if you want to be a good actor, work on your worldview. The better worldview you have, the more involved and aware you are in life, the more evolved you [are] in the way you think. It reflects in your work.
What’s one trait an actor should absolutely not have?
An actor, while acting, should never have this notion that he or she is doing something so special that everybody should bow down in front of him or her. This is arrogance. Of course you must be passionate about what you are doing but when you start believing that ‘I am an actor and I deserve much more attention’, then that’s the end of the road. I don’t like actors who seek attention, both in their films and in reality.
A performance should be sublime, it should get into the larger design [of the film]. If you see a film and you end up commenting about how well shot it was, then it has not worked. When you can’t figure out the photography, acting, writing, direction then in design they have become one.
You are not able to pinpoint what it was that you liked. It’s like when you like a person you can actually never define why [you feel that way].
Instinct or method?
Instinct is also a method.
Actors are born/can be trained?
It’s a bit of both. Everybody is a born actor. That goes without saying. We are all acting in life. As per the old saying, practice makes it perfect.
What do you recollect of your first film audition? Or any memorable audition that stayed with you?
I have given very few auditions. I never liked them. I was a bad student and hated exams. The moment somebody trusts me, I can do wonders. But the moment you test me, I can’t.
Auditions are crucial/a waste of time?
Auditions are great but the [person taking the audition] is more important. Similarly a great interview is not because of the interviewee but the interviewer. The audition-er should have an idea of what the audition is all about. It’s also a cultural thing. [Marlon] Brando gave an audition for The Godfather . There is the famous story about how he had stuffed cotton both sides of his mouth for it. We have a lot of hierarchy here.
What inspires you to pick up a role and reject another?
[It’s] largely [the] story. I have been very fortunate that at least 95% of the films I have done, the filmmakers have shared the story with me. The stories came to me before the role came to me. I enjoy that, it helps me in building the character.
An actor is a puppet in the hands of a director… Would you agree? Or disagree?
I don’t agree with the way it is said. It is passé now. There was a phase when makers said that. We are all here to contribute [to the film we’re working on].
An actor is a director in progress, a director in the making. Yes or no?
Yes. 100%
An actor you would have loved to direct…
I would love to direct Ranbir [Kapoor]. Barfi! and then Jagga [ Jasoos ]. We were like a house on fire together. I just love the boy. He is too amazing. He has fluidity in everything. Whether it is something subtle he is portraying or a dance or a song or a typical Bollywood thing; he just makes his space. He comes to me in every film I think of; when do you get his dates is a separate matter.
Your dream role?
Frankly speaking, I do not have a dream role. Every role that I get, a journey starts from there. It’s living that life, and I am not romanticising it here. When you actually start living a character, then you internalise how that character eats, breathes, thinks, says things. It’s not a dream role, there can be dream stories for me.
If you were not an actor...
Main paida hi nahin hua hota (I would not have been born).