Getting him to talk is a tough task, especially for scribes who have tried to nudge him for quotes. He is also not someone who is known to shy away from accepting that he did bad films. He also hates giving interviews, yet, when he does agree to sit and talk, he is possibly one of the most refreshing people to have a chat with. Thanks to his honesty.
The Woods had a chance to speak to the Hum Kisise Kum Naheen actor Rishi Kapoor in the run up to his Friday release 102 Not Out and we were left wanting for more.
Excerpts…
Hate movie promotions
You lose your charm, vigour, aggression. The questions are the same. How much will one actor be different during one to ones? I get very angry after the third interview. I feel why is he (the journalist) asking the same question! I am the worst person to interview, I have patience, no charm and no delight to give interviews. I have not done this in the past, and no interest of doing this in future.
When someone does something and becomes successful, it becomes a trend. I will not name the actor, but one actor started this promotion nonsense, going to every house and every media asking people to watch his film. And that set a precedent for this. How much money is wasted, how much of time is wasted! The kind of promotion they do, travelling from city to city, how expensive is it? Do you think audiences are stupid that you will go and tell them to watch a film and they will? The film has to be good, not because you did so much promotion.
Different film, different look
I am wearing a beard for my next film that I am shooting in May. This is because my director asked me to. As usual I would like to give a different look in my films. This is one of my endeavours to look different in films… baaki acting toh wohi hoti hai. I am 65, running 66. I don’t think I have had a better period in my life. I am enjoying every bit and every moment with the great work I am getting and enjoying the ability to work.
At 66
I did not get work of this kind earlier in my career. The audience did not expect films like these, and films like these were not made. Now times have changed. The audience back then was forgiving. The actors back in the ’70s up till the mid-’90s had three to four films based on the lost-and-found formula. Or there would be rich-boy-poor-girl stories. That’s all I did all my life. That’s all that was made. When there were different films made by the likes of Gulzar and Hrishikesh Mukherjee, they would feature other actors. I never got an opportunity to work in them.
Deserving vs reality
I never gave the audience or critics to like me doing something. What was I doing? Romancing heroines, running around trees, singing songs in Ooty, singing songs in Kashmir, singing songs in Switzerland. I would wear jerseys and people called me sweater-man all over the world. I never got characters to play, while my contemporaries had all kinds of roles to play. I am not complaining. I got 25 years of romance. I may have not been the biggest star in the country, but I was always among the first five stars in the country. And I am very happy, as I lasted for 25 years. Someone had done a thesis … and said that no actor, not even Dev Anand, had survived for 25 straight years. Today all the Khans have done it because it is much easier. But no actor, Jeetendra, Kakaji (Rajesh Khanna), not even Amitji. Amitji gave a bad gap of three years. I was working non-stop, even Dev Anand did not do it. That is to my credit. But I did not get credit as an actor.
Happy film
Amar Akbar Anthony by a length. Only a couple of days ago I met a journalist who told me her eight-year-old son loves watching the film, which released 40 years ago. That just proves the point. This is the third generation after the film was released. It’s like a Charlie Chaplin film. You enjoy a Charlie Chaplin film in all ages. Same is with Amar Akbar Anthony. I love watching it. There is so much of entertainment, endearment, even if so illogical. There have been so many books written about the illogical things, but yet so welcome by audiences.
