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'Everyone compromises in some aspect or the other'

What is your definition of good work?

Well, that differs from person to person. I honestly feel we aren’t making quality movies. But since I’m in the movie business, and this is where I earn my livelihood, I’m sticking around.

According to me, good work is what movies in the 1950s were about, like Bimal Roy's Do Bigha Zameen and V Shantaram's Do Aankhen Barah Haath. Most of the Guru Dutt films, the early Raj Kapoor movies, many of Ritwick Ghatak's films like Meghe Dhaka Tara and Satyajit Ray's movies -- those are the kind of films that are never fading classics, that even our children’s children will be acquainted with.

I had the opportunity of watching many great films by Akira Kurosawa, Gregory Takara and others at the Film Institute in Pune where I studied as well as taught. I’m waiting for a time when people’s tastes change and they start demanding some good films. But may be I’ll be too old by then! Or may be I can do a role when I'm old, like the one Henry Fonda did when he was 90 years old in the film Golden Pond!

You write as well -- what are your current topics of interest? Why don’t you write a movie?

I’ve written some scripts that are very different, but when I narrate them to my producer friends they run away from me saying the scripts would never work! (laughs) I’ve got offers to direct as well, but when I’m in a meeting and I sit down to describe my scripts, they all brand it as being too much on the lines of a Hollywood art film! But then again, times may change and if, some day, someone likes my script, I may come back from Sikkim, an old man directing a film!

Which films are you working on presently?

Well, Pukar is due for release. Then I have a film called Ek Hindustani, which has been directed by a colleague, Tinnu Anand. Then there is a film with Sunny Deol called Bajrang, which is almost 60 percent complete. There’s a film called Officer that is coming up. I will also be doing Raj's next film, Lajja.

Right now I’m also doing sittings with Prakash Jha, who has shown me a wonderful script. The biggest incentive is that he is planning to shoot in Ladakh and in the hills. Shooting for that should start in the summer and that’s something I’m looking forward to. Then there are a couple of other money-making films (laughs) in the offing.

Is there any particular role that you think did justice to you as an actor?

I don't think so because there are so many factors that finally determine the end product. This is an art form where there is a lot of money involved. Here, the moment you start with the script, there is already hundreds and thousands of rupees involved, so you have to compromise. In fact, everyone compromises in some aspect or the other.

Is it because of these compromises you mentioned that you have taken up other forms of expressing yourself, such as painting, gardening and carving?

(laughs) Yes... somewhere along the way, you get dissatisfied and you want to do something that you really enjoy. It doesn't matter how big or small it is. I learnt this from a seemingly trivial incident.

I have small garden on my terrace and one downstairs and the mali and I used to always fight over certain plants being planted and the layout of the garden. I would marvel at his passion and, even though I was his employer, he was unafraid of me and would stand up for what he believed in, even if it was at the cost of losing his job.

That was when I realised I too should do something that moved me to such an extent. That's why I've my gardening, carving, trekking and painting. In fact, once I got 100 saplings of plants that grow at high altitudes and got two bonsais out of them in Bombay. That was a source of tremendous pride for me!

In films one loses out on one's freedom, an actor is like a puppet in the hands of the director. I think this is totally a writer's and film-maker's medium. When I'm painting or gardening or carving, I've full freedom and that's a great feeling! If I don't like something, I can start over -- there are no compromises here!

Continued...