MUSBA HASHMI chats up actor PARESH GANATRA, famous for his roles in Baa, Bahu and Baby and Chidiya Ghar, about his new show
Tell us about your character.
I play Mahendra Thakkar, a successful businessman (has a shop selling Bhakarwadi). He is a man of values and principles and can’t compromise with them. But believes in changing with time. He is not rudiment in his thoughts and is ready to accept changes both in his business and life. He respects his customers a lot and keeps in mind their choices.
Do you share any similarities with your character?
Yes. Just like my character I am also a man of values and can’t compromise on them. I can’t do anything just for the sake of impressing people and creating a good image for myself. I am very real and a very straight-forward person. The difference in me and my character is that I am not businessman. I can’t sit at one place. I want to be in the field and be creative.
How difficult was it for you to explore the genre of comedy?
It is difficult to get into the skin of the character — be it comic or intense or serious. You can’t say ki yeh toh maine aaram se kar liya. Jis din actor yeh bolney lag jayega ki arey ye toh mere liye kafee asaan thha that shows arrogance and overconfidence. It means you don’t want to grow as an actor.
Whenever I am given a character to play I try to understand his situation — mental and emotional. Then I try to get hold on his background, family, body-language, accent, education and understand his struggle story if any. I feel if someone has faced struggles in his life and then rose to name and fame, he will always be grounded and jinkey paas baap-dada ka paisa hota hai unmey thoda arrogance dikhta hai. After observing the smallest events of a character’s life then I proceed towards the story. I believe in doing my homework and keep experimenting. If you will not research and experiment with your characters then all your performances will become monotonous and I feel that is the end of an actor. I don’t want to repeat myself and that is what makes all the difference in one’s performance.
Was it difficult for you to make a place for yourself in the industry?
No, it wasn’t that difficult. Whatever work and projects I took up worked out well. The struggle of an actor comes in when he does a project which doesn’t work or when he doesn’t get work. I had my own struggles. I did a film Mann which didn’t work. But then I did Aankhein and it worked and then there was No Entry, Welcome, Delhi Belly, Rowdy Rathore, Bol Bachchan and all of them worked out well. I started getting work and people started recognising me. Fortunately, on TV also whatever work I did turned out to be a success so now I don’t feel worried about getting work. I get work. I have faced a lot of struggle in my theatre days and so I understand how to value my work.
Who is the ustaad of comedy?
Kishore Kumar, Mehmood and Johnny Lever. They did and do comedy effortlessly. Nowadays, if you mock someone people will laugh on it but I think this not the true essence of comedy. I believe in doing situational comedy and these people were masters at it. They never made jokes on people that is why still people enjoy watching their work. They are very expressive. And also the evergreen Charlie Chaplin. If someone can make you cry or laugh without uttering a word then no one can match him ever.
There is a lot of competition in the industry. Does that affect senior artists like you?
The scenario has changed in the comedy genre. There are a lot of formats that have come up. It is a never ending process. An actor or a comedian will never be out of place. Everyone has a USP and they know what they are good at or what they lack in themselves. As far as I am concerned, I know that I am not good at doing mimicry so I will never do it. Not am I comfortable in with under the belt kind of comedy so I won’t get into it. I always love doing situational comedy rather and that is my forte.
Was there a moment when you thought of quitting?
Yes, definitely. There were two projects where I thought of leaving them because for me the work environment matters a lot. If I am not comfortable working in the environment I do feel like quitting but I have learnt ki aap jo bhi kaam lo ussey pura karo, beech mein mat choro kyunki show aap se nahi apney naseeb se chal raha hai. I always put aside those feelings and remember how much efforts I have put into it and walking away is not the solution.
What are your upcoming projects?
I have offers for a few films but for that I have to leave TV and I am not willing to do it. So, right now I am only focusing on Bhakarwadi and once it will be done, I will do other projects for sure.
