The actor who has decided to honour Robert De Niro through a short film, I Went Shopping For Robert De Niro, talks to Divya Kaushik about being a part of the Western world and enjoying the best phase
His Hollywood venture, Silver linings Playbook, has already won laurels and Anupam Kher, who has announced that his next 29-minute directorial venture will honour Robert De Niro, is enjoying the opportunities he is getting one after the other.
The actor plays psychiatrist called Patel in the film featuring Robert De Niro and Bradley Cooper. Kher has more reasons to be on cloud nine, and that’s the success of his last Bollywood release Special 26. “That film is special and it is also made in a special way. It is one of those films that respect the audience taste. It is time to make such movies where we understand that the audience is far more intelligent than what we think them to be. They have ample choices of entertainment today and they will only go to watch the film that can engage and interest them. They are much more aware than what we think them to be,” said the actor, who is shuffling countries and sets, because of his work commitments. “But I am enjoying it all. I basically enjoy working. I have been through a time in my life when I was not working at all so I know the value of work. I am a person who lives in present and will readily take up more and more good work, if it comes my way. People talk about Silver linings Playbook and ask if the shift from Bollywood to Hollywood was deliberate etc etc….but I maintain that nothing can be planned and I take up all as work. I think I am fortunate to get good opportunities and glad that Silver linings Playbook has won several honours. It is a great sense of achievement to see a film doing well and people talking about it. It also makes me feel proud as an Indian,” said the actor, who has got a chance to play variety of roles in his career so far.
Kher terms his film, Saaransh, that was also India’s official entry to the Oscars, the turning point in his life.
“It was a dream role in that era for any youngster. It was the film that changed my life. Playing a 65-year-old for a 28-year-old was challenging but to work on such a story and such people was a privilege and a chance that only few would get,” he shared. Anupam made his Bollywood debut in 1982 with Saaransh. He played the role of an elderly man who loses his son and struggles to collect his ashes to great acclaim.
The actor says he has never believed or followed the so-called trends in the industry and has always moved with time, but something that he is looking forward to right now, “is working with the new directors. They have great ideas and something fresh and different to offer.”
His short film, to be made to honour Robert De Niro, will be a story of two girls at the crossroads of their lives and what happens to them on that particular day when they go shopping for Robert De Niro. Yamini Kshirsagar and Rimal Arora play the lead roles. They are also the girls who actually went shopping for a gift for De Niro before Kher went to Philadelphia for the shoot. The actor says that he enjoys every moment of his life and everything that he does, be it filmmaking, acting, giving motivational lectures or writing a book.
His first book, The Best Thing About You Is You, has turned out to be a great success and publishers and his fans are already waiting for the next offering from the actor’s table.
“The work on the next book is in progress. It will be about the relationship that I shared with my father and lessons learnt from him. I was an average student who never scored more than 38 per cent marks in most subjects, but I learnt the life’s lessons from him, in a way that I never realised I was learning. When I lost my father, I thought if I could pen down the lessons that I learnt from my father. The title is in my mind but I can change that later,” said Kher, who is working in films like Chashme Buddoor and Super Nani.
