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00:00There's so many other languages and twangs and colloquial terms I learned to pick up my
00:07various characters. But this was the first time I had to catch hold of a completely different world
00:14and way of communicating. And I think for an actor, nothing can be as exciting as this.
00:22More challenging it is, it becomes more exciting for actors.
00:30Good morning, this is Manjusha Radhakrishnan. I'm the entertainment editor for Gulf News Dubai.
00:34Today I have man of the moment, Appar Shakti Khurana, who we know him from comedy but this
00:39time around we're talking to him about something far more grimmer and I think in a very different
00:44avatar, right? We see you in comic roles and suddenly you are now in a spy thriller. That's
00:49the genre I thought you would never take up. So well done you. Perhaps you can tell us.
00:54Thank you so much, Manjusha. And only for Manjusha to feel happy about it that Appar
01:00only doesn't do comedy, does other things as well, I picked this up. Otherwise,
01:02I would not have done it at all.
01:04I'm sure. I'm sure. And your legion of fans that you have gathered over the years,
01:08you've done your time, you've done so well. But I have to say I was very surprised to see you in a
01:14festival friendly movie. Because some actors you just don't associate with serious content or
01:19not serious. I don't think it's fair to call it serious. It's just a different darker genre,
01:23right? We're talking about people's lives at stake and assassination attempt
01:28at a Russian president. So perhaps you need to tell us like,
01:32is this your way of breaking that stereotype that you can only do comedy?
01:36So first of all, I would, you know, like to say that audience in Dubai or globally,
01:42even audience in India has really become very intelligent, okay. And they don't want to do
01:48they don't want to see a person doing similar things. Our profession is very well dependent on
01:57what the other person wants. Okay, people are watching it, they should get something new.
02:03I can in my head, wire myself accordingly, that I can eat Rajma Chawal every day.
02:11But if it doesn't make me earn good money, then it's a problem. So hence,
02:16the reason of picking up various other kind of roles and trying to experiment and trying to,
02:21you know, do films from a dunghill to three to then from a, you know, convert to a
02:29Jubilee to Berlin. The reason of doing such cinemas is such pure cinema is for that,
02:36the is for the audience, because they have become very, very intelligent these days,
02:40very intelligent, very demanding, very in a good way, demanding, not in a bad way.
02:44So very, very intelligent, very demanding, very interesting and intriguing, they really look
02:50forward to new kinds of stories. So because they have become intelligent, artists have to, you know,
02:59experiment, legends of yesteryears, you know, they didn't really keep on doing the same things,
03:05because they want to do the same things. It's because audience wanted them to do this.
03:10So I would like to believe that audience right now is very, very intelligent,
03:13especially the kind of audience you have, the global audience.
03:16Right. I just saw Ishan Khattar in The Perfect Couple. Yeah, on the platform. And I have to say,
03:22I felt such a case of reflected pride. Here is an example of how art has no boundaries, right?
03:28With OTT platform, Zee coming in, etc. People are watching content. And I think this is your way
03:33also of appealing to a larger audience, isn't it? Because I remember at one point, it was always
03:37about India, Pakistan, that I'm familiar with those. With this, I had to actually after watching
03:42the trailer, I had to look at what was India and who were we siding with, etc. It was like a crash
03:49course on which block did we belong to? Did you have the same problem also that this is a very
03:54unfamiliar terrain, I feel. The Cold War, it's something that I expect Hollywood to do, not an
03:59Indian filmmaker, weirdly. I understand where you're coming from. But that's not something which
04:04was really, you know, after reading the script, it's not something which crossed my mind, I'll
04:08be honest about it. Everybody reads it differently. Everybody conceives it differently. Everybody,
04:13it's a very actor to actor, director, director, audience to audience, journalist to journalist
04:18kind of a reaction. Once I read it, and once, you know, Atul Sabarwal, the writer and director of
04:24the film, narrated the script to me, my instant reaction was, oh, my God, I want to be a part of
04:29it. You know, it's something written very differently. Not very often you hear stories
04:34where sign language is a tool to take the story forward, where two agencies are kind of fighting
04:40with each other. And the guy who is so naive and docile, who comes to their rescue. Suddenly,
04:47you know, there's a lot of up and down and twists and turns happening in the film.
04:51The moment I heard the script, my only excitement was I want to do it. And I'm not going to let go
04:57of this. And it'll be very interesting to learn sign language. It'll be very interesting to because
05:03what had happened was that so far, I'd only learned dialects, you know, in Dangal, I had a
05:10Haryanvi dialect in Dhoka around the corner. I had a Kashmiri dialect, then from a Khariboli to an
05:18Avdhi language to, you know, to Bengali. There's so many other languages and twangs and colloquial
05:28terms I learned to pick up my various characters. But this was the first time I had to
05:35catch hold of a completely different world and way of communicating. And I think for an actor,
05:43nothing can be as exciting as this. The more challenging it is, it becomes more exciting for
05:49actors. It's your most restrained performance. I thought just going by the trailer again,
05:53I haven't seen the movie. I haven't got the screener yet. But I feel it's your restraint
05:57thing, right? You have to somehow convince them of your intent, of your feeling. Was that a tough?
06:02What was your brief? I'm very curious to know if I've had a fly on the wall.
06:06What did your director tell you? Like, how do I make myself known without the
06:09power of words, which is the arsenal, right? In an actor's kit?
06:16You're 200% right that the body language, the physicality of Pushkin Verma, the storyteller of
06:24this film is extremely different from Apar Shakti. It's extremely different from what I've
06:31done back in the day. They all require certain kind of physicality, certain kind of, you know,
06:38uptempo-ness, certain kind of chirpiness to deliver those lines from Bittu, from Sri to Omkar
06:50from Dangal to, you know, Rizwan from Pati Patni or Abbas from Lukka Chuppi. They all require a
06:59certain kind of chirpiness and uptempo-ness. But there was a part called Pushkin Verma,
07:08where you just wanted to, you just had to be a very, an epitome of common man, you know,
07:16of, and that too of a school teacher. It's hard to find, it can't be, the sign language teacher
07:24in the school can't be a flamboyant boy, you know, so it had to be a very humble character.
07:31My only request to Atul sir was that whatever you've written on the paper, I have got my beat.
07:38We were a few days down on the workshop, especially for sign language and otherwise
07:44reading workshops. I told him I pretty much got, you know, the sense of the character, but
07:53there might be a day where I will be coming from another professional commitment,
07:59be it hosting an award show last night, or going out for a brand shoot last night.
08:07And the next morning I'll be coming to you. Just remind me of my pace. That's about it.
08:13It was a very honest confession. And I think most, more often than not, if I'm able to
08:20control my tempo, especially of the dialogues, especially, you know, the way I think,
08:26I'm more often than not home. And I think Atul Sabarwal did a great job in the workshops itself
08:32to calm me down and make me feel like Pushkin.
08:37Right. And did a blockbuster like Stree perhaps embolden you to do a movie like this?
08:42Just to mix things up? Because you know that somewhere along the way,
08:46I want to do a mix of genres, right? Did it embolden you?
08:50See, first of all, when we were shooting Stree 2, we did not know that it's going to be a 600 CR
08:54film. When I reached Berlin set, or when I was reading or being, you know, the film was being
09:01narrated to me, I could see that the kind of mainstream commercial cinema I've done, this is
09:07something very different, very real. And as I said, more challenging it gets for an artist,
09:14it gets more interesting. Yeah, you, you know,
09:17aapke dimaag ke ghode aur khud baithte hain ki, yeah, okay, I want to do this. How are you going
09:20to do this? Right, of course. And you, you are also working alongside Rahul Bose, who's like
09:26the go-to actor for film festivals. I remember still speaking to him a bit, Dubai International
09:32Film Festival, which is now defunct. But yeah, at that point, he was there, that man can do
09:37any festival circuit, I feel he's a veteran. Did you feel like an amateur next to him?
09:41Just a film festival circuit, how to get there? Not only for film festival, I think I just felt
09:46like, ek toh he treats me like a kid brother. I love him for that. There's a lot to learn from
09:53him personally and professionally. I love the mix of both the work he's been able to do the
09:59commercial and the non-commercial cinema. I love the way he juggles between his rugby commitments
10:05and his NGO commitments and films. I love the discipline he carries. I mean,
10:13with his health, especially very, very high on fresh juices, no sugar, no tea, coffee,
10:20no nothing. I love the way he functions. I'll be happiest if I'm able to get rid of tea, coffee
10:26from my life. I can't. I clearly, I clearly can't. You really can't. No, no, no, it's okay. You need
10:32something to come on. Not everybody can function as a discipline and a thing. I can't give up my
10:38coffee, no matter what. I love my tea, coffee. I'm such an early morning chai and an evening
10:44coffee person. I just can't do without it. Even if I'm talking to a senior journalist, I need my
10:53coffee. And touch wood, it only makes the conversation better because I'll be in a happier
10:58mood. So I'm sorry if it's bothering you. You drinking coffee makes me crave coffee, but it's
11:06still lunchtime here. So I'm yet to have lunch. But yeah, you have to tell me you have done your
11:12time in Bollywood. You have actually, one of the actors, I would say there are many like you
11:17who have come up the hard way, like you may have a popular brother, but that does not negate your,
11:23the way you have done your time. Every movie, it's been one movie at a time you're trying to
11:28make a mark. Do you think you feel validated now? What's your headspace like now? Do you feel like
11:33you have arrived? Does that happen to you? Yes. When I put on the Google location,
11:38the Google map, it says you have arrived to your destination. That's the only time you feel right.
11:43Okay. Otherwise, even if you ask Bachchan Saab, he says, I'm still a learner.
11:50So there's no way I am able to answer that question. Then, you know, the seniors, when
11:56the seniors and the legends of the industry says, say that I'm still a learner, which is also true
12:00in our field, you know, you need to be a keen learner in our industry. Only then you can,
12:06you know, evolve as an actor, reinvent yourself as an actor, as an artist. So I don't, I mean,
12:13I don't think so. Any of the relevant actors would say that we have arrived now coming to
12:17your first question. First of all, thank you so much for it. It sounded like a very polite
12:21compliment that, you know, that I had my, I had a journey of my own and then touch wood.
12:26That was also something which was fed by my father. And it was a conscious decision made by
12:32me and my brother. We all sat together and understood, okay, that I'm also about to enter
12:37this world and enter this profession. And we three spoke about it that, okay, in my own right,
12:42I'm talented. I'm fairly hardworking to, to make things happen, but there will be a lot of
12:48comparisons. How do you go about that? So my father told me, listen, just have your own journey
12:54and that's about it. And I think having your own journey will always give you the love and
13:00the appreciation you demand as an artist. And I think it's amazing. You have two very creative
13:09people in your house while, while growing up, who are, who were always there to guide you,
13:15to tell you. And, but one thing was there for sure without sounding too much, if I can say
13:24that never, ever, my brother has ever called any director, producer and said, take my brother in
13:30this film. I mean, I can, I can really, you know, bet my life on this without sounding too much,
13:37man, really, I will leave the city. If anyone gets up and says that, okay, this film happened
13:43because Aishwarya called, you know, an XYZ director or producer. All of them happened
13:49through various rounds of audition. All of them happened through your own little journey,
13:56starting with a five-minute troll, you know, and moving to five to 15 to 25 to 35, and then having
14:03your own films and your own worlds. And given a chance to do this again, I would love to start
14:09all over again. And in my next life itself as well, have, have a similar journey. Because I
14:15think if, if a relevant journalist like you can, can have such a polite conversation on this
14:22without putting me under the bracket of nepotism and touchwood in the entire country, there's so
14:29many debates on YouTube or otherwise live debates, you know, on nepotism. I've never seen my name,
14:36you know, being floated there. And that gives me a lot of satisfaction. And that makes me sleep
14:41very happily at night. You say it with a lot of pride that your brother or your family did not
14:46promote you. It was just meritocracy. Whether I got a three-minute troll or a 30-minute troll,
14:51it all happened in your own time. And you're incredibly proud of that. Maybe that's why even
14:55directors are coming back to you. With Jubilee, you have worked with Atul, right? And now you're
14:59working with him again. Is that the reason you think they have also a reluctant respect for you?
15:04Do you think, is that why he came back to you and he's giving you like another project? Does
15:08that work? Like even your street credit goes up. We call it street credit, right? Among journalists.
15:13You don't get paid for reviews. It means you must be decent at your job. I think even with actors,
15:18is there something like that, where people respect you for making it on your own steam?
15:22Of course people do. I think that goes in any profession. That's not a journalist or an actor
15:29driven industry trait. It's a trait which is universally in any era existing kind of a trait.
15:38I think whenever an individual is having his own journey and is trying to put things together and
15:45trying to work hard, there've been a lot of instances that I've gone and done a brand shoot
15:50or a live chat with a brand. They have repeated us touch for time and again. And same goes for
15:57the writer and the director as well. This is my three, two was my fourth film with Madhok.
16:04Yes, with Atul Sabharwal, this is my second film. I start my next most likely with T-Series. That's
16:12my fourth film with them. And all these relationships with them started professionally.
16:18And on my, I mean, it's not that I got introduced to Atul sir or Vikramaditya Motwani or Madhok or
16:26T-Series through Aish Beha. I mean, Bala happened later. Three happened first with Madhok. I mean,
16:32otherwise I started working with Madhok after I had already done my film with them. So it's not
16:37a relationship which got started because whose brother I was. It got started, you know, on a
16:44very one-on-one equation, only through that one audition, that relationship started. And maybe I
16:52was sincere enough in the audition. Hence, that relationship existed in the best possible way.
16:58Thank you for your comment.
16:59Let's have coffee together next time as well.
17:02We'll catch up for coffee in Dubai. That's the plan. You take care.