In an exclusive video interview with The Fress Press Journal, Anupam Kher spoke to us about his memories of Emergency, playing Jaya Prakash Narayan in the film, being directed by Kanagana Ranaut and more. Excerpts:
Q. In 1975, you were a 20-year-old when the Emergency was declared. What were your initial reactions?
A. I was in the first year in the National School of Drama, Delhi. It was a total surprise. I was not a very politically aware, I was a small town boy from Shimla and I had come and joined this three year course. So first of all because it had happened for the first time, it did not register. What does Emergency mean? Of course one heard that it’s for the betterment of the country. It’s only Kishore Kumar’s songs got banned from All India Radio that I realised the kind of the magnitude of the wrongdoing that was happening. To me, banning of an artist of All India from All India Radio just because he did not attend Mr. Sanjay Gandhi’s private event was very ironical and frightening.
Q. What was your personal lived experience during that time?
A. To be very honest, because I was very engrossed in discovering art, though ofcourse in rehearsals you would hear about it. But it did not impact my life that way. I was just living in a hostel doing my rehearsals. It does not register immediately to you that how can all those brutalities happen in an independent India. Just a few decades after independence we were going through the same phase where people were not free, the press was banned, and people were put behind bars without any reason.
Q. What did it entail playing Jaya Prakash Narayan in the movie?
A. First when I started doing the research on the character, I was a little sad that he was spearheading the retaliation towards Emergency and not much is known about him currently, even though his contribution was immense. So I think what this film will do is tell people that they are enjoying freedom in free India because of him. A lot of credit goes to him.
Nobody knows how he looked or how he talked, as compared to Gandhi or Nehru or Sardar Patel or Indira or Manmohan Singh. I had to get basically turn inwards into the mind of a man who was determined to challenge Emergency. Of course there were some footage given to me by Kangana’s team and I also went through it, but I didn’t have to imitate. Looking like him was not most important, but being that person was, I think that’s what comes across in the film. When I did Dr. Manmohan Singh, I had to be like him. It needed a lot of physicality and a voice change because he was a very visible person.
Q. You have constantly remembered Satish Kaushik after his passing.
A. Unfortunately, this was his last film. In fact, in the few years he was doing his best work. And when you see Jagjivan Ramji’s portrayal by Satish Kaushik, you discover that not only that he tried to be like him, but his strength too. I think what Kangana has done very well is that she has collected actors who have their own persona in terms of giving weight to the character that they have to portray. I called today to invite Satish’s wife Shashi and his daughter Vanshika to the screning. I said, ‘You must come because you need to feel proud of what he has done in this film.’
Q. How was it working with the others?
A. Shreyas has done a very good job because nobody has seen Atalji in a younger age. Even Milind Soman as Sam Manekshaw is brilliant. He brings out the quality of Sam Manekshaw as a charmer, apart from being a man of steel. Mahima Chowdhury as Pupul Jayakar became the character. The only performance comes from Kangana Ranaut who is outstanding. After 10 minutes in the film you forget that it’s an actress. That is the magic that she has brought in. So because she is like that, all people around her look believable. Having done more than 540 films and being in the movie for 40 years, you feel that you know it all. But there were times when Kanagna would come up to me as Indira Gandhi and whisper in my ear and say maybe we can try it out like this. And she was bang on. She also collected an amazing technical team. Her Director of Photography is an Oscar nominated Japanese photographer. Her makeup lady, who did her prosthetics is an Oscar winner. Just because the film got into controversies let’s not take away the cinematic brilliance that it is projecting.
While wrapping up the video interview, we told Kher how he deserved to get the Best Villain Award for the 1991 film Hum (Danny Denzogpa had got it that year for the same movie). His reply?
“There are so many films I should have got an award for. But it’s okay. Sometimes a comment like that from a person like you makes it up for all the things.”
