Actor, filmmaker and author Anupam Kher has launched his new book, titled ‘Different But No Less’. In an interview with IndiaToday.in, the veteran actor spoke about what inspired the idea behind the book, how he looks at his life so far, and what changed in him when he joined the industry.
Kher shared his experiences as a director for ‘Tanvi: The Great’, a film that inspired his latest book. He said he didn’t want Tanvi, the protagonist in his film, to be portrayed as a “bechari” (helpless), only because she was living with autism.
When asked about the interesting title of the book, Kher said, “I look at life. What inspired me is how I have always tried to sort out the problem – what happens when you expect more than you need. Most of the problems come from it, and it has nothing to do with… I’m not talking about ambition; I’m very ambitious. I’m very hardworking. I’m very result-oriented, but then I also feel that life is the best teacher. So when I was making ‘Tanvi’, I wanted a tagline for her because I was portraying Tanvi as a superpower, not as a bechari, handicapped, autistic girl.”
For Kher, life is nothing but experiences, and he has had plenty of those to inspire book after book. In the interview, the 70-year-old shared that he has lived his life the way it came. Sure, he tried to provide a structure to his life, and worked hard to be where he is today, but he never feared going through difficult times. Kher said he always knew that he was ‘different but no less’.
“The problem of comparative study in today’s times is that you are constantly made to feel that somebody else is doing better than you. But how does somebody else do better than you? Maybe they have a better profile on social media than yours. Maybe they have a better set of clothes, but it is the mental power and the mental understanding of yourself that makes you powerful. That’s why the book.”
He added, “Also, what I do is start my life right from where I started, and from that point of view, I feel like I’m the richest man on earth. I came to the city with Rs 37 on the 3rd of June 1981. So, it is to empower people. Don’t let the world tell you that you are less in any way.”
The two-time National Award-winning actor added that he understood himself and knew his potential from the day he stepped into the industry. He said he dared to change the way the industry looked at actors and break stereotypes.
“From day one, I was a 28-year-old boy when I played a 65-year-old man. And I’ve survived because of that one role. If that was not my first role, maybe I would not have survived like this in the last 40 years. I was bald. I was thin at that time, and the hairstyle was much more important. But I knew that I was a drama school student. That ‘I’m different, but I’m no less’. I was sleeping on these platforms. These are the stories. What happens is that what does not happen in your life or what you are experiencing is tragic or sad; later on, they become your stories.”
Kher continued, “Like when you asked me this question, I had a story to tell you that I’d slept on a railway platform. I was 28, but I played 65. I knew I was different. I was the first person to break the myth of typecasting. People were doing the same role again and again. When you’re living life, you don’t plan to do it this way; this is why you’re doing it. You’re just living life.”
Kher has established a solid reputation for cinematic greatness in his name. And all of that, he said, came from the way he observed life. For him, there’s no plan B but “bouncing back”.
“I go through depression. I go through sadness. I go through disappointments. I go through heartaches. I have no alternative but to bounce back and tell myself ‘I am different but no less’.”
Kher’s book largely follows the behind-the-scenes experience of making ‘Tanvi: The Great’, which is still running in theatres. The film is about an autistic girl who sets out on a special journey to fulfil his deceased father’s wish of saluting the flag at Saichen Glacier. It was released on July 18.
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