“I’m A Theatre Person, And Hence For Me There Are No Good Or Bad Roles, Just Good Or Bad Actors”

PRAKASH BELAWADI tells JYOTHI VENKATESH

The dedicated actor who made his debut with Madras Cafe in Bollywood, who is playing a vital role in the film Graham Staines Ek Ankahi Sachai slated for release on the OTT platform ShemarooBox Office tomorrow on Friday talks to JYOTHI VENKATESH in this exclusive telephonic interview for bollyy.com and Mayapuri where he speaks at length about his approach to acting and his role in Staines Graham Ek Ankahi Sachai

How did you approach your role of Kedar, the editor of the newspaper in Graham Staines Ek Ankahi Sachai?

I feel when you’re playing a negative role, it’s important to not approach the character as a bad person to start with. It’s not as much as man is evil as much as it is evil in man, and there can be good in man also but it’s about what wins at the end of the battle that we fight internally, not externally. I tried to play him as a person who is prone to self-deception (atma vanchana) to explain his bigotry, but actually he’s being eaten from within because he knows he’s wrong. He tends to keep justifying it, but he knows he’s wrong.

In a small-town paper, where you are the editor, everything depends upon the editor. He is the whole and soul of the office and hence can tend to get more corrupt as an individual.

Yes. He can tend to get more deceived by the notion that he is powerful. In reality, he’s as powerful as the owner keeps him, but when you’re left alone to operate in a place and you run it for some time, you begin to think you are actually controlling not just the paper but are also controlling the events that happen and get into the news. Having worked as a journalist for some time, it’s an observation that journalists may assume an inflated sense of self-importance- it can happen to anyone. He tends to think he’s very powerful and then you lose focus of what you’re doing. You shouldn’t become the news, you should report the news. You lose the objective of reality, whereas you must objectively see what is good and what is bad and not allow your own ideology to creep into it.

How was Daniel as a director in Graham Staines Ek Ankahi Sachai?

He’s a very humble person, with a lot of clarity with what he wants to achieve from every scene. He’s very genuine and approaches the film with utmost faith genuinely. Sometimes I’ve pointed out there is a conflict of objectivity and he was generous enough to change and openly acknowledge it. I think he’s a true Christian- generous, gentle and caring.

Generally, do you do any homework for your character or let it intuitively flow?

As a theatre person, I have directed a lot of plays. I tend to approach it with classic theatre rules-context, background, motivation. That’s how I would approach it, at all times.

For Graham Staines Ek Ankahi Sachai, did you draw inspiration from the journalistic stage of your life?

I got some inputs from that stage of my life, but I also got inputs from a number of arguments that you get into, you know, about Hinduism, Missionaries, and Conversions. Arguments where you are taking one side and you hear people saying extreme things and reflect on how you reacted to those extreme statements. So thinking of all that, you can see what kind of person this could have been. This is how I tried to approach it.

Career graph-wise, you’ve never shied away from any kind of role. What gives you the guts-Is it your theatre background?

Primarily, because I’m a theatre person, we have a saying that there are no good or bad roles, just good or bad actors. So, you know, I like to do roles based on true-life incidents because it gives you a chance of being a part of an argument that you couldn’t make in real life. It was a horrible incident, something that should make the law and justice systems introspect. I mean, whether you agree with missionary activity in India or not, it has to be dealt with legally with argument, by negotiation, in court and abiding to the constitution of India.

Can you elucidate?

We have a process of debating, changing laws in court but taking laws into your own hands and doing a vigilante kind of justice and to justify it, is a truly horrible thing. We should know that what is wrong is wrong.  What kind of explanation can you give to such a thing? I feel that it is important as a human being, to do what you can to do, be on the right side of such arguments. If you’re a journalist, you can do it of course or if you’re a historian you can do it, but if you are a passive reader or citizen, you don’t get a chance. But, I think acting in such roles is a gift for you to be able to reflect and invest into it as much truth and emotion as possible.

I find that most of your characters are based on real life. In Shakuntala Devi, you played the despicable father to perfection who lives off his daughter.

I think every industry looks to get grey characters. Once you are recognised as someone who can do it, most directors tend to pick you to do these grey roles. Maybe that’s why it is happening. However, I have even turned down big roles for big banners if the character is disinteresting or for that matter, has too much complexity.

Have you been proven right, after the release of the movies?

I have done about 55-60 films already and of them I’ve not watched around 30-35. Half way through the schedule I have suddenly realised that the direction is not going in accordance with what was narrated to me. If the role is done in a very different way and the story is also delivered in a different way, I lose interest in watching the film. I’m not saying I’ll be right all the time, at times I will be wrong. Many times, I get tempted and do small roles for big names but end up thinking if I’ve done the right thing. See I’ve acted in Sanju, because of the big director, and then I thought what did I do?! (Laughs)

I do not even remember the role that you played in Sanju!

I play a journalist who is nasty to him.  It’s a very small role. Sometimes I’ve done that, but hopefully I won’t in the future. But when it’s a big director like Rajkumar Hirani, it's hard to say out of respect for them and you kind of surrender to the temptation.

As an actor do you let yourself be plied by any director or you insist that the characterization needs a particular kind of tackling?

I feel I’ve had to do very little fighting in that way. I’m a South Indian, who speaks with a South Indian accent and I refuse to try and pretend I’m a non-Kannadiga. I’m given roles that are like that, most times. Only times I try to quarrel is when the director and my meaning of the character/situation differs. Then I actually discuss a lot with the director.

What if the visions don’t match?

I believe the director is in a better position to see the picture as a whole and most times I go by what he says. But I need that discussion to convince myself and then I do whatever I’m told. But that happens very rarely. Sometimes when I realise that the director doesn’t know what the hell he is doing, because I’ve made a mistake by accepting his film I will not suggest it to him, as it's not my job to be a director. I should have said no at the outset, by being able to assess, how this director is able to tell you the story, and make out how they think. But once you have crossed that stage and are in the middle of the film, I don’t think you should challenge the director too much. I’ll argue, but I'll lean towards the director. The only time I told the director I would not do something was on one occasion- there was this scene in a film that was not there in the story that was narrated to me. It involved the berating and brutal murder of a girl, which I order somebody to do. I said I'm sorry, I'm not going to do that, as it wasn’t told to me. But that happened only once and it was a Kannada film called Benkipatna.

Sometimes the directors swallow their ego also. Some look at the actor and say who the hell is he to tell me how to do my job!

In this case it was worse than ego; they got their ideology mixed up. I hate it when directors bring in ideology into the story, you know. They should segregate it outside. If they want to make a political film, they should use political actors, I don’t want to take any sides.

How many films have you been part of?

I haven’t counted but I have to my credit 15 Hindi films and around 35 Kannada films.

Is it a conscious move on your part to choose such roles which leave an impact?

I choose roles that are either important to the story or those that have a trajectory, so you have a graph to play with. I don’t mind if the roles are small, but they should be significant. I turned down the role when they started by saying you are the father of the heroine. It seems insignificant. My key thing is not acting; I like backstage activities and direction.

But you’ve never directed a Hindi film, so far.

I don’t plan to direct Hindi films but want to stick to Kannada as of now.

Which are the Kannada directors you admire?

There are some good directors emerging but do not come with a frequency that we would desire. In the 70s we had a good run with parallel cinema but after that we faded. I like Suri, Hemant Rao, Raj and Shivrudrayya among the new directors. We don’t have new thinking directors who can make great cinema. There has been one off; we need a kind of churn and movement in the cinema so that young men and women can try new stuff.

Is it true that you have written two scripts for Shivrudrayya?

I’ve written 2 scripts for him and am acting in the films as well. I feel that we can try something new with those scripts because both of them are very offbeat and original. One is based on an old English short story but we will acknowledge that later but the other one is completely original.

Have you ever worked with Girish Kasaravalli or P. Sheshadri?

I have never worked with them. But I have worked with Girish Kasaravalli, who actually gave me my break with Kannada- Kannuru Hegedi in around 1999, 20 years ago. Surprisingly Kannadigas looked at me only after Airlift and Madras Cafe. There was a young boy who asked me to act for the lead role of a film called  Parlour, before Madras Café. Unfortunately, he never got another chance to make another film. One of my students, Arvind Kamath has made a very interesting film called Arishadvarga, but he can't get it released. So there are a lot of young, talented people who are not getting a break. With movies like this coming one after the other, you can see a movement, a genuine shift of ground.

What is your view of the Hindi version of your film Graham Staines Ek Ankahi Sachai being streaming on an OTT platform, ShemarooMe Box office? Do you think OTT is the future for Indian cinema?

I think you have to consider this idea of viewing cinema as a community activity as it is becoming more and more challenging. I don’t think it’ll go away. People like to congregate for sports, which also has that kind of emotional upheaval, climax, moments of danger and thrill and includes all the elements of drama. People like to come together and celebrate all these acts. When you have films with a narrative that has emotional ups and downs, people may enjoy going to the theatre and watching it. Big action films, thrillers may get crowds but quiet nuanced films may begin to disappear from the big screen and get on to OTT platforms because it is accessible and not having anyone to distract you, and it might be as private as reading.

Which are the best 5 films among those in which you have acted till date?

Talwar, Take Off (Malayalam), Airlift, Madras Café and Tashkent Files

Sometimes do you aspire to be part of being a part of a mainstream kind of cinema which is a pot boiler, despite your sensitivity as an actor?

Many times. But I also do many small films. I work with young directors doing challenging work and I know they don’t get enough publicity. I’ve acted in a film which is actually a docu-drama called Mission Mars in which I play the director of ISRO. It’s a short film, just 23 minutes long. I’ve acted in another short film for which I won best actor in a festival called Autumn Leaves, where I play an Urdu professor. It was a very unusual role for me, because I barely speak Urdu. I am also a part of the Tamil film Soorarai Potri.

Which are the directors in your wish list in Hindi as well as Kannada?

I hope I get a chance to work again with Surjit Sarkar, Meghna Gulzar, Suri, Sudha Kangra etc. I don’t know how good or bad the directors that I’ve not worked with, but I feel that I would like to work with sensitive female directors.

Have you also acted in web series?

I’ve done a web series for EROS Now called Smoke where I play an underworld don. Another one with Nikhil Advani, Mumbai Diaries is slated to drop on Amazon Prime. I have also done one more web series with Nikhil Rao which is not yet titled for MX Players. I’ve done an out and out slapstick comedy with Danish Seth, in Kannada. I'm already contracted to do a season 2 of Smoke and Mumbai Diaries. My hands are full with writing, films and web series.

Did your debut Hindi film Madras Café prove to be a turning point in your career?

It proved to be a turning point in my life. I’d never seen money and was always in debt, but Madras Café changed my life. For about 3 films after Madras Café, I never asked for money, saying this is an immature thing for me and then someone said I was stupid and advised me to hire a manager and after 2-3 years after Madras Café, I appointed a manager. I still don’t get great money, but more than I had ever seen before.