Actors Saif Ali Khan, Radhika Apte and Rohan Mehra narrate their tales of how their roles in Baazaar shaped them as a person. By team viva
In a time when rich businessmen, especially the Gujarati ones, have absconded with crores from public sector banks, Baazaar, actor Saif Ali Khan’s latest film is bound to attract interest.
This time around Chhote Nawab dons a tough, corporate look and plays a high level businessman who wants to shake up the financial sector in India. He explains how the role turned out to be the most exciting and enjoyable in his acting career till date. “Shakun’s character throws light on how much money matters for some people. I am a rich Gujarati businessman who is full of himself and pride. He doesn’t respect the old traditions. He wants to challenge the establishment but loves his family. Though, by the end, he is like a gande paani ka shark (shark of a drain). You call such a person as a corporate raider in financial terminology. He is only interested in his profit. He doesn’t care about the company’s growth but is interested only in his own. He represents a very khatarnaak (evil) person with a capitalist mindset,” he says.
Radhika Apte, who hasn’t portrayed many glamorous characters, believes that unconventional is the new normal and that “you have to select from what you have been offered. You choose whatever you find more exciting. I feel more inclined to do such roles because I as well need to sometimes relate to the person I am playing.” From Nida in Ghoul, Anjali in Sacred Games, Sofie in Andhadhun, we have all seen her intelligence through the roles that she portrays. So do such characters also impact an actor’s life in a certain way? Radhika believes that portraying too many characters is difficult but it does change your life to a great extent as it “makes you know yourself in a much better way.”
She adds, “It’s so funny, sometimes you come across different characters and they somehow sync with what is going on in your personal life. This is because you attract certain stories to you. There are also times when you have to play parts of those who probably resemble people whom you do not appreciate in real life, but you have to ultimately play those and step into their shoes. This is teaching me how to empathise and learn about each and every person’s situation; about how not to be upset and angry at people and just let them be. I also feel that this is one of the most gifted professions because of the number of people you meet and stories you come across.”
The actor is basking in the success of Andhadhun, says, “I honestly never think that I have ever ‘arrived’. It’s all a process to me. Today I am lucky enough to be getting a lot of work that I’m passionate about, but one can never know what the future has in store,” she said.
Apte has a reason to be wary. She says, “I had to struggle a lot to get to where I am today and it is appreciated more because people are aware of my work much more so there’s more talk about it. But at the same time I don’t think the struggle has ended because in any freelance industry there is a constant struggle with constant rejections, constantly trying to maintain a level of work as well as challenge yourself and bring something different to every project you do.”
As Radhika has practically carpet-bombed Netflix which also inspired a meme later, when the online channel wrote in their Instagram bio: ‘Another official Radhika Apte account.’ She laughs and says, “It was actually very smart of Netflix to do that. But I question only one thing, how can someone be trolled for working?”
Rohan Mehra, son of actor Vinod Mehra, who is debuting with the film says, “I feel I am an outsider despite being his son. I don’t think I’ve ever used his name to get an interview or a meeting. Till last year, if I had gone to a Bollywood party, I would’ve walked and no one would know who I am. No one even knew I existed. They came to know when the trailer came out.”
Rohan says he never received any special treatment from anyone in the industry because of which he has “massive respect for the people. “The other so-called star kids we speak about, the ones who are spoken about even before their film has released, I wasn’t one of those. I was never on the map. This is the way I would’ve wanted it to be. I’ve never got anything because of my surname.”
He believes the film industry today welcomes outsiders with open arms. Although he belongs to a film family, Rohan says he had to struggle a lot to bag his first project. “Today, there are so many casting agents and production houses doing a wonderful job of backing new talent. I don’t think anyone should feel disheartened that they aren’t from the industry. I am not and I have struggled too,” he adds.
Rohan says initially he was not influenced by cinema but after growing up, he was subconsciously drawn to acting.
He said that there was a lot of nervousness and hesitation initially, “but I am lucky to have a fabulous cast who made me feel welcome.” He talks about how he related to the role that he plays, “I wanted to play the character that looks real. But the most important factor was about ‘who the person is inside?’ Why he wants to do whatever he wants to do? The role is special to me because it’s my first and also quite similar to me.”
While the other two get candid about them relating to their characters, Saif’s role made him ask questions about an ambitious person’s mentality and how a human performs when it comes to money. He says, “Earlier, such topics had never crossed my mind. There’s a rich man’s world and a poor man’s. But it takes a lot of understanding to show both the sides. And everybody wants money. The poor wants it because he doesn’t have any, and the rich wants it because he is now accustomed to a lifestyle. But is money an illusion? Does it actually make you happy? What does it mean to specific people? It is somebody’s possession, somebody’s insecurity, somebody will commit crimes to get it because it will make his sleep a million times better.” Talking about Chitrangda Singh, who plays his wife in the film, he questions that “she’s already rich. So what does life mean to her or what does money mean to her?”
He goes on to add, “There could be a complete anthology of Baazaar. It makes you question the human nature.”
Photo : Pankaj Kumar