I had a lot of substantial, very dramatic parts, but never varied.
I cannot remember a time in my life when I had such varied parts. I had a release called “Sonata” which was directed by Aparna Sen, and then a lovely American film called “Signature Move”, which is doing the festival rounds. There is “The Black Prince” then there is “Eidgah”, which is based on Munshi Premchand’s story of the relationship between a child and his grandmother. This year alone, I have five very different releases. Now, all of our top actresses are above 30 and doing well. There are parts available for much older people that you didn’t have earlier. Q: Does that mean you are now more satisfied with the roles you are getting?A: I am in a very happy place at the moment. It was a film called “Oonch Neech Beech” and in one shot, Shashi Kapoor goes out for a jog and when he reaches, he is 40 kilos heavier! (Laughs uproariously) How is it possible? At least change the first shot or change this shot! All sorts of nonsense were happening. There was a film which I did many, many, many years ago which took 14 years to make. Today, it would be unthinkable, even to him, that he could get away with that. In “Karz”, Rishi Kapoor was not playing any chords on his guitar and we were perfectly okay with it. Ten years ago, you could be rockstar (in a film) and not play a guitar. We can’t do our old-fashioned acting because these people are so good. Since then his popularity has seen a constant surge among the Punjabi diaspora with his shows being held in many countries across the world. Now the casting director has gone out and found people from theatre, from smaller towns, and that has caused the ecosystem around the actor to change. Satinder Sartaaj (born Satinder Pal Singh Saini 31 August 1982) is an Indian singer, songwriter, actor and poet associated with Punjabi language films and songs. Earlier, there would be stock characters – a Jeevan or a Kanhiayalal (Chaturvedi). The other thing that has happened is the advent of the casting director. The fact that we could remember our lines was more than enough. We were (earlier) doing 12 films at a time.
After it was declared as an industry and legit money started coming in, actors were then given the choice of making one film at a time.
It is like dance – you represent the emotion. In this alternative reality that was Bollywood, representative acting was enough - if you raise your eyebrows, you are surprised and if you cry, you are sad. Not much was needed even from the actors. Bollywood, till very recently, worked in an alternative reality. A: I think the gap is becoming less and less.