Anand Mishra:- "I have played a memorable character in the film 'What! A Kismat'..."

Anand Mishra, originally a resident of Jabalpur, has his personality in Bollywood. He is also a stage artist, theater director, actor, and acting trainer. Anand Mishra has now acted in many TV serials and films under the direction of many directors including Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Saeed Mirza, Kundan Shah, Rajkumar Santoshi, Shankar, David Dhawan, Kundan Shah, Bharat Rangacharya, and Raj Kanwar. His acting has been appreciated in many films including Ghatak, Damini, Barsaat, Waqt Hamara, Antarnaad, Sardar Patel, Andaz Apna Apna, Mujhse Shaadi Karogi, Har Dil Jo Pyar Karega, China Gate, Pukar, and Nayak. He has also given acting training to many artists. These days, Mohan Azad's directed film "What a Kismat" is in the headlines to be released on March 1.

Here are excerpts from the conversation with Anand Mishra...

 You do very selective films. In such a situation, what was the reason behind doing the film “What a Kismat”?

-My friend Mohan Azad and his wife Madhu are my good friends. Mohan Azad is an old theater artist. He also wrote Madhur Bhandarkar's film 'Chandni Bar'. One day I got a call from Madhu ji that Mohan Azad was going to direct a film. Whose shooting is to be done in Sehore, Madhya Pradesh. Surendra Rajan was initially supposed to play the role of Dada in this, but he has become too old. Now he wants you to do that character in his film. He said that it is a small-budget film. The film has all new actors except Tiku Talsania. But the grandfather's character is very important. So I did this film. My attraction behind doing this film was that I had not been to Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh for a long time. So I thought that I would visit Bhopal on this pretext. It is a different matter that I remained stuck in Sehore and could not go to Bhopal.

What according to you is the movie ‘What a Kismat’?

-This film is the story of a middle-class man's desire to earn money, desire to find love, and attraction towards another girl despite having a wife, in which there are many small incidents. How sometimes fate plays a strange game in a person's life, due to which what a person thinks does not happen. What should not happen, happens. The things that happen contrary to thinking will be seen in this film. Let me tell you that when my friend made a film, which was directed by a friend of mine, this film became successful and Irrfan Khan became a star, then the thought that came out of my mouth was - 'What A Kismat'. Similarly, Shahrukh Khan used to work with me in the TV serial 'Circus'. We used to come together every day. Used to eat food together. But Shahrukh Khan got a film and became a star. So what! A Kismat...sometimes this happens. Many times, looking at someone, we do not think that this person will reach such heights of success, but when he reaches such heights, then we call him 'what A Kismat'. Something similar happens with the hero of this film also. I have seen many such people in Mumbai, who can be called rich in fortune. You just look at Anurag Kashyap. He used to act with me in plays at Prithvi Theatre. Anurag Kashyap acted in a play “Babu Ji” directed by me. But one day Ram Gopal Varma gave him a chance to write the film 'Satya'. As soon as this film became successful, his fortunes changed and one day he became a great film director. Rumi Jaffrey has also been my companion. He acted in two of my plays, and later he also became a big writer and director.

Does the right thing apply to director Mohan Azad?

-Mohan Azad wrote a successful and award-winning film like 'Chandni Bar' twenty years ago. But later he also had to struggle a lot. So luck works everywhere. Many things are not visible to us. How articulate you are, how knowledgeable you are, how well you can write, or how well you can direct, all this does not matter in Bollywood, what matters is how great a manipulator you are. The game of success is very different here. Mohan Azad even worked in Reliance. A person has to do a lot to survive. It is hoped that now their times will also change. You should accept that time passes for everyone.

What would you like to say about your character in the film?

-I have played the character of a grandfather. Which is a very important part of the story of the film. At present it is not possible to tell more than this. All the actors associated with this film are talking about their characters, but I have been asked to remain silent about my character. But when you come out after watching the film, you will remember my character. My character is memorable.

These days, casting directors have started selecting actors in Bollywood.

-Our filmmakers keep looking at the titles of those films while watching Hollywood films. There the cameraman is written as DOP, now the same has happened in Bollywood also. Similarly, the dance director was replaced by a choreographer. This casting director is also a product of Hollywood films. I have had very little interaction with casting directors. I have done some ad films at the request of casting directors. I think that those who came to Mumbai to become actors, could not become actors, so they became casting directors. Many cast themselves in some character instead of another actor. I don't understand, who can understand the character of the story I have written better than me? If I ask someone to suggest me the name of an actor who can play such a character and the casting director gives me the names of five actors of his choice, then how can they be of my choice? But I will be forced to choose one among the five sent by him. Apart from this, the artist will not get the full amount of money given by the producer, the casting director will deduct his commission from it and give it to him, and then this becomes a commission work. So this casting director is a completely imported culture. Ha! The producer has his benefits from this, otherwise, why is he paying thirty to fifty lakh rupees to the casting director? Didn't Raj Kapoor, BR Chopra, or Shakti Samanta make films without a casting director earlier? There were no casting directors at the time of the production of thousands of films including 'Do Raaste', 'Aradhana', and 'Mughal-e-Azam'. The director must have confidence in himself. If a director does not have confidence in himself then what kind of director is he? Casting directors ask both boys and girls to compromise.

Do you also give training to many artists?

-Yes yes! My friend and writer-director Rumi Jeffery once asked me to train Jackky Bhagnani. I have been doing this work since then. From here the work of teaching voice modulation, expression, speech, diction, dialogue delivery, body language, etc. started. Started training everyone from film stars to newcomers. When Katrina Kaif had just come to India, David Dhawan and Rumi Jaffrey had given me the responsibility of teaching her Hindi. Nisha Kothari for Ram Gopal Verma's film, Nargis Fakhri for Main Tera Hero, Celina Jaitly for No Entry, and 25 actors including Janhvi Kapoor, Neetu Chandra, Hazel Keith, Taha Shah, Rhea Sen, Evelyn Sharma, Patralekha. I have given training. Varun used to remind Dhawan of Jaishankar Prasad's work so that his speech defects could be cured. At present, I am giving language and acting training to two or three educated actors from America and South India.

Presentation: Shantiswarup Tripathi

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