Actor Gulshan Grover, who will be seen in the Disney+ Hotstar film Cash, has kept transforming himself to keep pace with the younger lot, says Saimi Sattar
As we connect over audio on a zoom call, actor Gulshan Grover quips, “I am glad that the video is off because right now I am in a bathtub with my harem.” Both of us guffaw as we know he is living up to the image of ‘bad man’ that he has cultivated over the years and never tires of underlining after playing the eponymous character in Ram Lakhan (1989). Grover, who has been a part of the industry since he made his debut in 1980 with the film, Hum Paanch, will be seen next in the Disney+ Hotstar film Cash. The goatee and shades sporting Gautam Acharya is the antagonist in the show set in Mumbai. In the series, set against the backdrop of demonitisation, a bunch of youngsters starts a money-laundering gang.
Talking about the project, the 66-year-old actor says, “The most important thing was the coming together of young talent. I’ve seen Vishesh (Bhatt) as a child when he was born. I’ve worked with his wonderfully talented family. Mahesh Bhatt has been a mentor, I’ve learnt so much from him. When Vishesh and Rishabh came to meet me, I remembered what Mahesh Bhatt saab told me, many years ago, that, ‘a younger person will see a different shade, a different talent a different aptitude, a different person, trait of acting and different emotion in me... and will make you shine. If you can align with younger energy, you can stay forever.’”
Once on board, he was working with a team that did not have anyone over 40 years, “Although I am 35,” he quips. Even though he was the senior-most person here, he made it clear that he was not going throw his weight around. “I told them, ‘whatever you want me to do, the way you want me to play the character and more, I’ll do it your way. I am not here to put out my version of things’.” And on the sets what he found was to his liking. Rishabh, the director, explained his ideas well and was compassionate. Vishesh was a contributive, creative producer who gave what was needed. “Sometimes producers do not give enough opportunity, time or resources to the director,” he adds.
The show has been a learning opportunity for the 66-year-old actor. “It taught me the younger way of thinking. I was watching and observing the actors. It was fantastic to see the ease of these young actors. We were so tense when we were young. We were unsure or over sure. We had multiple emotions,” he says and adds as reminisces, “If you see the work of actors a few years back, we learnt on the job. Seniors taught us how to hit the mark or take the light or if the makeup was too bright or if the clothes or hair was not good. But these youngsters are ready to face the camera, are exposed to world cinema, have understood their roles and discussed it with the director.”
However, something Grover found amazing and disconcerting at the same time was the ease with which the actors could slip out of their characters. “They would disconnect within a second. And go to their mobiles. It is my fault that I stay in the character for many many minutes. When the director said, ‘ready’, they would just keep the phone in the back pocket and start taking a shot. I would hand my phone away with instructions to ‘take it far away’. It is a wonderful quality that they have... to be able to switch on and switch off,” says Grover.
Other changes that he has noticed are the positive energy and clarity that the younger actors possess. “They sit down for hours and discuss the next day’s work. They are in sync,” he says.
Grover believes that not just actors but everyone needs to be in sync with the times. “Any talent which does not align with the present gets outdated. Constant evolving is needed. Change is inevitable. Either you can complain about it or you can be a part of it in your own interesting, logical way,” says the actor who was nominated for a National Award for Best Supporting Actor.
However, another change that has been noticed is the way the villain has changed where he is no longer larger than life. “Villains like that do not exist in real life,” Grover points out and further says, “Today, writers take inspiration from real life... what is in the news and newspaper. However, Cash needed a heavyweight. The image of ‘bad man’ and the visual quality do not require establishing and immediately conveys to the audience that things are going to be messy and difficult. They show my face and my character and the audience knows that this guy is going to make these youngsters’ life very very miserable,” he guffaws yet again. Incidentally, his autobiography too was called Badman and released in July 2019.
The coming of the OTT platforms has changed the way content is consumed. Grover points out, “Till one week we were saying it will be difficult to revive the theatres. I couldn’t have been more wrong. I went to see my film, Sooryavanshi, and hundreds of people surrounded me and security had to usher me out. So, there will be a hybrid combination of entertainment, where OTT and theatres coexist, which is the future. The two can’t compete with each other. They will coexist,” he says, signing off as my time is up...
