Despite being a veteran in the film industry and having worked in Bollywood as well as international films for the last 40 years, Anupam Kher is humble. The way he took the chair on the podium during a session at Taj Bengal, organised by ICC Young Leaders Forum, broke the seriousness of the house with his humour and made the host convert the formal chat into an easy conversation that went on for around one hour.
Kher began by briefly talking about his background, how he failed miserably in academics and how as a small-town boy he had big dreams. “I come from a small-town lower middle-class family in Shimla; my father was a forest department clerk. Small-town allows you to dream a lot. I was bad at studies and never got more than 38 per cent marks. I was bad at sports too. There was plenty of time to dream; I still dream though. I wanted to be known; I wanted to be famous, somebody who mattered,” said Kher, describing himself as an eternal optimist.
Moving on, he spoke of his entry into the world of cinema. “I would imitate people and I think that’s when the early seeds of acting must have been sown. We had four cinema halls and we saw a lot of movies. I was enamoured by the world of cinema. I used to like patriotic films and the first English film that I saw was The Good, the Bad and the Ugly with my friends. I must have been in 9th or 10th standard at that time,” said the Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan awardee.
Quick in answering tough questions, the National Award-winning actor replied sensitively to the question: The videos that you post with your mother, is it a conscious effort or just for social media? “That’s how our cynical mind has become. A lot of people think that. I don’t see why others don’t do the same thing with their mother. My mother didn’t just lose a husband but she also lost a habit, her best friend…. So I decided rather than mourning his death in the prayer ceremony we would celebrate his life. So, we ended up playing his favourite songs and recalled the funny incidents and people were rolling on the floor. My mom thanked me at night and it was a big reward for me. I posted one of the videos and people related to it and now my mom is more famous on social media than me!” said Kher, informing that he celebrates his shortcomings and impressing everyone with the line — “Success is one dimensional and failure is multi-dimensional.”
The next few minutes were inspiring as Kher shared his values and principles. “I was lucky to spend my childhood with my grandparents. All my education comes from my grandparents or my father. We make our lives difficult by thinking about what will others think of us. We have a lot of power but we make ourselves ordinary.” The evening progressed with the director-producer talking about being diagnosed with clinical depression. He said: “I thought how come an optimistic man like me could be depressed? After consulting, I realised that everybody needs somebody to listen to. We are becoming like other countries that have professional listeners. It is vital to have a conversation.”
Friends occupy an equally important space in Kher’s life and he fondly remembered Satish Kaushik who died in March this year. He also recalled how actor Amrish Puri replaced him as the iconic Mogambo in Mr India. “Later, when the film was released I realised that my interpretation of Mogambo was totally different than that of (director) Shekhar Kapur and it was perfectly suited for Amrishji.” The discussion on films also brought Kashmir Files to the fore. In the concluding moments, Kher charmed the audience with his wit, oratory and acting skills.
