Kader Khan was a versatile Hindi cinema actor who began as a scriptwriter. He first gained fame as a villain and later excelled as a comedian, working with David Dhawan and Govinda in many comedy films. Listen to this podcast to hear Kader Khan discuss his career and films in detail.
Category
✨
PeopleTranscript
00:00If you give them the wrong medicine, they react to it.
00:02They throw up and the picture comes out of the theatre.
00:06And wherever I stood, I used to act and tell people.
00:09People used to be very happy when they praised me.
00:11But when I came home, they used to catch me
00:13because I didn't come after offering prayers.
00:15So, they used to beat me up a little.
00:16If that day, they would have rejected me
00:19or not given me a response,
00:21then I would have been exiled from there.
00:30About 23-24 years ago,
00:36I was famous for a drama called Local Train.
00:41I won the award for Best Writer, Best Actor, Best Director.
00:46And in those days, Mr. Narendra Bedi,
00:51who came to me backstage, told me that
00:55he was making a film called Jawani Deewani
00:58in which Randhir Kapoor and Jaya Bachchan play.
01:01He was very famous in those days.
01:03He said, I want you to write dialogues for that film.
01:06I said, I don't know how to write dialogues.
01:10He said, we know how to make you write dialogues
01:13because you have been a playwright and write dramas.
01:18The next day, he called me to his office and gave me the script.
01:22He said, this is the scene, you write it.
01:25I went from there. I didn't have a place to write.
01:28I took a train and went to Marine Drive.
01:31People were playing football on the cross field.
01:33So, I sat on the side and started writing the dialogues.
01:35Sometimes, football used to hit me in the middle.
01:39I used to get hit by the ball and I used to write the dialogues.
01:42In three hours, the work was done.
01:44I came back to Bandra.
01:46I was shocked to see that I gave work to a stupid man
01:49and he came to ask me again.
01:51I said, what is it?
01:52He said, you asked me to write the dialogues.
01:55I said, so?
01:56He said, I wrote it.
01:58So, writing the dialogues in three hours,
02:00this has never happened before.
02:03So, when I told him,
02:05and the way he praised me,
02:08he hugged me,
02:11that praise and hugging
02:14became a way of my life,
02:16which brought me here.
02:18If that day, he would have rejected me
02:21or would not have given me a response,
02:23then I would have exited from there.
02:25Earlier, you used to write a lot of dialogues
02:28when you were young.
02:29So, even then, acting or...
02:32I am talking about my childhood.
02:34Yes.
02:35In my childhood, I used to imitate a lot.
02:39When I used to see anyone on the street,
02:41if I used to meet a strange person,
02:44who had a different way of speaking,
02:46a different way of walking,
02:47then I used to imitate him.
02:49Sometimes, I used to imitate my friends.
02:51They used to clap for me.
02:53So, a person is hungry for a response.
02:56So, my mother used to tell me,
02:57son, go and offer your prayers.
02:59So, I used to hit the bunk with my prayers.
03:01And I used to stand somewhere
03:03and act and tell people.
03:04The people who used to praise me,
03:06I used to be very happy with that.
03:07But when I used to come home,
03:08I used to get caught
03:09because I did not offer my prayers.
03:10So, I used to get beaten up a little.
03:12Okay.
03:13You have done Swarg, Raja Babu,
03:17now you are doing Narsi Babu.
03:19All of you are in the same team.
03:21So, how do you feel working with Mr. Tulani?
03:26He is a very good, young,
03:31enthusiastic and enterprising producer.
03:35He makes films with great enthusiasm.
03:38And his enthusiasm is so high
03:42that he makes his colleagues,
03:44the director, actors,
03:47the hero, the heroine, the character artists,
03:49all of them,
03:50he makes them his colleagues and partners.
03:54He has so much faith in people
03:56that they will make a good film.
03:59So, if his faith is not pushed,
04:01then we are forced to do a good job.
04:04So, do you think that in these three movies,
04:08working with the same team,
04:10David Dhawan, Govinda, Shakti Kapoor,
04:14have you guys found the formula
04:17for a hit movie?
04:20There is no formula.
04:22What happens is,
04:23a kind of melody is formed.
04:26For example,
04:27Shankar Jaikishen's team was formed.
04:30One used to make the melody,
04:32and the other used to make the song.
04:37Laxmikant Pyarelal, Kalyanji, Anandji,
04:40this kind of tune is formed.
04:42Some take care of the background,
04:43some take care of the song.
04:44So, when they get the melody together,
04:48then the formula comes out automatically.
04:51You don't get the formula by searching for it.
04:54You should find it in the tune of the time.
04:57As they say,
04:58a doctor looks at the pulse of a patient.
05:01So, our audience is also a patient in a way.
05:06We have to look at their pulse.
05:08On which pulse,
05:09we should give them the medicine
05:10which will touch their heart.
05:12If we give them the wrong medicine,
05:14then they react.
05:16They vomit it,
05:17and the movie comes out of the theater.
05:20So, the doctor should give the right medicine,
05:22and the director should give the right movie.
05:25This is the formula.
05:26How is it working with Mr. Dhawan?
05:29I have done so many movies with him,
05:31that now I don't even have the habit of others.
05:34And maybe there won't be a chance in my life
05:39that he will work without me,
05:41or I will work without him.
05:43So, this question should be asked
05:45when one of us is not working with the other.
05:48And maybe that chance will never come.
05:50So, do you prefer Mr. Dhawan
05:52against all the other directors?
05:54I don't prefer.
05:55I have become used to it.
05:57I have become used to being with this hand.
06:00I have become used to being on this shoulder.
06:02If you ask him,
06:04do you prefer to stay on this shoulder,
06:06what will he say?
06:08I have become used to it.
06:10Whether I prefer it or not,
06:12I have to stay with it.
06:14What are the other current projects you are working on?
06:17I am working on...
06:20There are a lot of projects.
06:22One is Banarsi Babu.
06:26After that, Ghar Wali Bahar Wali.
06:30Then, there is a film by Smita Thackeray.
06:33Haseena Maan Jaayegi.
06:35These are still on set.
06:37The other two are about to start.
06:40And the rest will start.
06:42So, I am compulsorily blind for her films.
06:46I mean, the subject should be written later,
06:50but my name comes first.
06:54So, I have done 10-15 films.
06:59I will do another 50-60 with her.
07:01So, going back to Banarsi Babu,
07:03what is your character in it?
07:08Is it repetitive?
07:10Is it a little different from Raja Babu?
07:15It is different from Raja Babu.
07:17Raja Babu has a very dominating father.
07:21He is very strict.
07:23He is like a martinet.
07:25He likes principles.
07:27He wants his son to be like him.
07:29In Raja Babu, he is a handbag husband.
07:33He has sold his wife to the power of authority.
07:39So, there is no power left for him.
07:42It feels like I am playing the role of a lioness's husband.
07:47The lioness makes him sit wherever she wants.
07:50She says, the camel breaks.
07:52She says, it is the day.
07:54In a modern society,
07:59which is different from the Indian culture,
08:01women consider the kitchen as a place for servants.
08:11The kitchen is for the servants,
08:14not for the women of the house.
08:16The main task of a woman is to do make-up,
08:20to wear beautiful clothes,
08:22to attend kitty parties,
08:26to dance with men.
08:30I am from Benaras.
08:32Govinda is also from Benaras.
08:34This does not happen in Benaras.
08:36Women do not dance with men.
08:40So, this is what happens there.
08:46He still revolts,
08:48but he does not have the strength.
08:50He keeps on doing it.
08:52When he revolts,
08:54the lioness improves.
08:56I become a lion.
08:58And the husband of Benaras wins.
09:02In short, this is the character.
09:05When you are doing comedy,
09:08the sense of timing is very important.
09:10Very important.
09:11Nothing happens without timing.
09:13So, how much is actually planned,
09:15and how much is ex-tempo?
09:18Ex-tempo...
09:20First of all, you should own what you have written.
09:24Whether it is written by me or someone else,
09:29you should remember it.
09:31After remembering it,
09:33you should make it your own language.
09:35If you speak it,
09:36it should feel like you are speaking,
09:38not someone else's written dialogue.
09:40When you start speaking it,
09:42it becomes a part of your language.
09:47And when it becomes a part of your language,
09:49it has a few words in it.
09:51But when you speak to someone,
09:53you must have seen that
09:55the speaker's words sound good
09:57and someone's words sound bad.
09:59It is not fun to listen to.
10:01Now, that fun is called as timing.
10:05In short,
10:07the translation of timing is fun.
10:13You said it with this rhythm and rhythm
10:17that the listener enjoyed it.
10:19That is called as timing.
10:21So, do you have a message for our audience?
10:25Yes.
10:27For the New Year.
10:29Not just for the New Year,
10:31I will say this every year that
10:35we should not be influenced by
10:39Americans, Britishers or Europeans.
10:43We should adopt the good things
10:45and incorporate them in our culture.
10:49The main background,
10:51the main cloth should be our own.
10:53We should use a few foreign pearls in it.
10:57We should not put our own bag on foreign clothes.
11:01If you go to a foreign country,
11:03women feel very proud to wear a sari there.
11:07I mean, there is something in a sari.
11:09And if the girls here take off their sari and say,
11:11sorry, you are also wearing something else.
11:15So, no problem.
11:17But what is it?
11:19But the beauty of our own culture is different.
11:23So, if the clothes are our own,
11:25foreign pearls will be used on it.
11:28But if the total cloth is foreign
11:30and our own is a little foreign,
11:32then it is wrong.
11:34We should sit in our own country
11:36and abuse our own country.
11:38I think this is enough.