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In the spotlight
AFTER a series of sober roles, Sanjay Suri does a volte-face with Pritish Nandy Communication’s Jhankaar Beats. In a comic avataar, Suri, the actor is sure about the ‘identifiability’ of his role. Displaced by insurgency in 1990, Suri took to the Indian capital, Delhi. With advertising as the stepping stone, Suri debuted with Pyar Mein Kabhie Kabhie in 1999. Opting for the sensible, Suri, who describes himself as, ‘a thinking actor,’ was noticed in films Daman, Filhaal, Tera Jadoo Chal Gaya and Dil Vil Pyar Vyar. Sanjay, who has now shared terrific comic chemistry with co-stars Juhi Chawla and Rahul Bose, in Pritish Nandy Communication’s Jhankaar Beats , says, ‘I realised I am pretty good at it.’ A chat with Sanjay Suri: You have done comedy for the first time in Jhankaar Beats. How would you rate your performance? I have been carrying this
image of a boy next-door. I was working for Filhaal, when Sujoy
Ghosh came to me with the script of Jhankaar Beats and I accepted
it at once. As an actor, I had to grasp the hilarity of the script and
its nuances. This is my first light-hearted role and it seems completely
believable and identifiable. The film is about normal people looking at
life in a humorous perspective. Working with Juhi was complementary as
she is known for her comic timing. Rahul Bose and myself would rehearse
a lot before the scenes and we hit it off very well. |
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For me being physically fit is more important than body building. I am very much into sports than gyming. Body building is a fine thing, but somewhere it could hold you back from doing certain roles. For example, if you want to play a beggar you may not be able to do so (Laughs). How important is a woman in your scheme of things? Your take on women. Before marriage, I did not realise how positively a woman could influence my life. I am a person who likes to discuss things with my partner. As a couple we thrash out a lot of things, though I may take the final decision professionally. Of course, I love women. Who doesn’t? I think that it is not a lie to call women the stronger sex. Physicality is a technical thing, but emotionally and mentally women are stronger. I have seen my mother, sister and wife show great adaptability and patience, something which men don’t have. On the flip side, they are more jealous and possessive. Few women make good listeners (Laughs). But they are definitely more committed than men. Could you tell us about your forthcoming projects? In Dr Chandraprakash Dwivedi’s Pinjar (an adaptation of Amrita Pritam’s novel) I play a scholarly character. It’s a love story set against the backdrop of partition. Urmila Matondkar and Manoj Bajpai play the lead characters. In Sanjay Gupta’s Plan, I am playing a toughie named Lucky and have also grown a goatee for it. Then in Shrey Srivastava’s Insaaf, a reality take on the life of Champa Biswas, (who took on a politician for raping her), I play her husband, an IAS officer. In Ashwini Chaudhary’s Dhoop, I play a cameo of a Kargil martyr. Om Puri and Revathy are playing my parents. It is about the father’s struggle against the bureaucracy. The finest compliment you have received. A fan, after seeing me in Pyar Mein Kabhie Kabhie, wrote, ‘Your eyes are very believable and even if you are lying I wouldn’t be able to detect.’ As an actor, I consider this a very special compliment. Could you share a few thoughts on Bollywood’s dismal scenario? Indian cinema is seeing a lot of changes lately. But we need to make sensible cinema. Illogical cinema has no takers. We cannot slot a film as art or commercial because filmmaking is a commercial proposition. Nobody makes a film to incur losses. Today, writers need to be given prominence. Filmmaking is a passionate business and you can’t treat it as a commodity. LMN |
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