I Can’t Let Go Off My Ideologies To Be Successful, hence I Am Not In Any ‘CAMP’; Says Anshuman Jha

He is a foolish scholar or a scholarly fool – But he is a genius! Ladies and gentlemen, that is Anshuman Jha for you. He is not your run-of-the-mill actor. The knowledge, the sanctity and the depth in his statements are well evident. The body of work that this lad has in his kitty is enviable! Be it the stage, the celluloid or the web, Anshuman has been there and done that! And all of it - sheer QUALITY!

He has assisted top filmmakers in the industry, he has produced his own show and is still humble and earnest with his work! This guy has a contentment in him which is unparalleled; at least that is what I inferred from the conversation I had with him on a Monday morning that was unusually easy breezy!

Well, he is surely not an actor who would go by the set norms in the industry, he is here to carve a niche for himself and it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to state that he has almost done that! Jha who is currently playing the lead in Zee5’s digital venture Babbar Ka Tabbar is secured in terms of work and self-worth, has knowledge one takes years to acquire and a personality that has the capability to earn him friends for life! –

Anshuman, you listening eh?

In an industry that is rife with competition and the race to get to the top, Anshuman is a maverick! In every way an actor can be a maverick! He refuses to follow the trodden path, he negates the rat-race and is not just happy but takes immense pride for where he is and what he has achieved! – Why not? It takes GUTS to make a name for yourself in the way you deem fit without compromising on your ideologies, thumb-rules and belief systems!

Kuddos to you man -

In a heart of hearts rendezvous, Anshuman opened up about his latest digital outing, his work philosophy and a lot more – I’d say, keep up the hard work and never change for anyone! I wish you all the best for everything you do!

Excerpts from the interview:

Not many will know you were rated one of the top 10 actors in Bollywood – How did that happen?

It was the list of 2010 but it came out on 2011. I was surprised because I got a spate of messages that morning. I am not a social media person that way. Just because it was New Years, I was keeping a watching on my phone thinking all the beeps on my phones to be Happy New Year messages. But when I read the messages, did I come to know. I think Mr Naseeruddin Shah was there on the list Mr Shah Rukh Khan was on number 9 so it was very overwhelming to see my name in the list. But honestly, I don’t get too affected by ratings! But I was very happy and grateful for everyone who loved LSD (Love Sex Aur Dhokha). I went to watch Oye Lucky Lucky Oye with my then girlfriend, I remember while coming out from the theatre, I told her “I hope I get to work with this director.” I loved Dibakar’s Khosla Ka Ghosla too and then LSD happened! It was like the universe working for you!

Now that you have completed so many years in the industry, are you in a happy space?

I am very happy and grateful. To be honest I set certain rules for myself and I have been able to follow then as an actor, I am not much of a social party animal. I have never really been part of camps. I am close to everyone and vice-versa. I am very happy in the space that I am in, in terms of the work I am doing, I have structured myself.

During our conversation, I heard a dog barking relentlessly and that’s when Anshuman told me, that’s his dog and what an attention craving ball of mischief ‘Casper’ is! A mix between a terrier and Indian. He also told me, he was a nervous-case dog and there were two others who died! Anshuman just picked him up and Casper snuggled into his arms right away! Isn’t that adorable or what?!

And yes, with a dog with you, you are bound to be happy!

Coming back to my question he said -

I am in a happy stage, I have taken an intentional sabbatical from stage! I am focussing on films, I have shot for 5 films in that period and then I did this digital show. The whole aim is to become a better performer and a better person!

Earlier during our conversation, you mentioned about not being part of camps. Don’t you think that takes a toll on your career as an actor?

May be to an extent. But at the same time success is very subjective. At the end of the day to each his own. I have never been that kind. But, I am misunderstood a lot because of this, I don’t believe in getting work in any other way but reading a script or testing for it. I always insist on a reading whenever a director approaches me with a script. It gives me a perspective and it gives them one too. I might attribute this trait in me to my sportsmanship, I have played a lot of cricket and I have always believed in the fair spirit. If there’s a role, I’ll give it my best and then it is the director’s call whether you like it or not! But I can never be fawning and obsequious! In fact, when I used o assist Mr Ghai, he used to get angry on me at times. If I hated something, I used to say that point blank! I have always been like this. It comes from a lot of security and a lot of knowledge and not just information! We are living in a world where everyone thinks they know stuff because they are informed. Merely googling something - you acquire information, to get knowledge you need to put years on it! So probably because of that I don’t get perturbed. I am extremely hardworking when I get down to doing things but if you ask me to go and attend a party too meet a certain director, even though I know it is part of the process and I respect people who do it, I have never been comfortable with that. I also feel very out of place, because I am a non-drinker and a non-smoker! I eat a lot though!  (laughs) eventually people make a body of work which people end up liking or hating! But after sixty years, even if I have done one film, it should be a film I should be proud of!

Your latest film Angrezi Mein Kehte hai, was a huge success with the critics, but the mass prefers to stay away from such films, what do you think is the reason behind it?

We have to understand the socio-cultural structure of the society first! We as a society are quite accustomed to consuming a particular of entertainment. Changing that will take time. LSD in 2010 was perhaps the first off-beat film in that genre that was a huge success!

But again, that film had a lot of sexual content going into its content –

Well, but sex or no sex, grammatically it was a very good film and people consumed it! After that Udaan came, Wasseypur came and these films kind of started a trend! What I am trying to say is, if you are habituated to consuming white sugar (which is bad for your health) it will take you time to shift your allegiance to Jaggery powder and again for doing that you need to have the jaggery powder available in abundance! It is a two-fold process. Firstly, it is the mental shift, that I will not have white sugar and then it is the material shift of actually procuring readily available jaggery powder so that you can consume it. In the same line, we are used to a kind of entertainment and for the audiences’ taste to change, they need to be given the other kind of films! This trend has already begun, a film like Lipstick Under My Burkha does the numbers and it is okay if it has a little bit of sexual element because there is no denying that it does attract the audience. At least you are nurturing the brains towards good cinema in its garb! It means the mindset is changing.

The second thing is you can’t change Rs 500 for a 1 and a half crore film and charge the same amount for a 100-crore film. There has to be a method to get some sort of rebate. Because the films have been made on that scale. It would be like an incentive for the audience so that when they want to watch a smaller film, they don’t have to shell out Rs 500 for the tickets and another Rs 500 for popcorn. Cinema has become really expensive.  Thus, a normal middle-class family ends up spending Rs 1500 to Rs 2000 on a film. This is why if they are accustomed to liking a certain kind of film they would prefer spending on that rather than going in for something new and spending so much and end up hating the film.

 Tell me all you can or want to about Babbar Ka Tabbar - 

It is the third digital show that has been offered to me and is the first one I chose to do. I do a lot of niche films and offbeat films – Well, they say beggars can’t be choosers, but I am a beggar who kind of chooses! When I wanted to make my digital debut, I haven’t consumed too much digital, I do see a lot of trailers, a lot of black comedy, sexual innuendoes so on and so forth. There was barely any family-oriented content. When I read this script, I could relate to it, it was very entertaining and funny, very well written. Babbar Ka Tabbar – (Tabbar means family) talks about one of the most pressing issues that is prevalent – the generation gap between the parents and the millennial kids. To be honest when I read the character of Jamia which is the character I portray in the show, it excited me as an actor. He is extremely eccentric, he drinks, he smokes, he is perpetually high! He doesn’t pay the rent, he eats their food and yet the family lets him live their because he is a therapist. He solves everyone’s problems. He is that kind of a guy who if one listens to will react with a ‘pagal hai kya?’ (Is he mad?) but in reality, he is very intelligent, he can read between the lines and can get into your head. For me the attraction was the script which was very wholesome and contemporary! It is about a 17-year-old talking to her family about hickies. Millennial's kids are pretty open and the parents have a tough time getting adjusting ton that kind of openness. The whole dynamics is changing! Babbar Ka Tabbar dealt with all those issues in such a fun manner that hooked me immediately. Then came the process, I had never done digital therefore I was a bit sceptical. For me the writer Alok Sharma was the hero. He has also directed the first six episodes of the show. He is a brilliant guy and he believes that an actor is as good as the script. Victor and Neha the producers also need to be given credit because they have given me whatever I required be it the time for the preparations or their energy. That was the time when the rest of the cast was getting locked, while that was happening I asked them if I could workshop with them and they readily agreed. The entire process was enriching and thus the synergy between the actors is evident in the show.                     

Did you have any déjà vu experience during the filming of the show in terms of the content ?

In this show I didn’t particularly feel like that with Jamia. I felt that in my scenes with Ayeshaji. She is the only one in front of whom Jamia is a little puppy. When he is in front of the father or the kids, he is the boss, but when the mother is in the picture he really wants her to love her. Unfortunately, she doesn’t like him because she knows everybody in the house listens to him. I really enjoyed doing my scenes with her, because it was a like an extension of a mother and son relationship, it was about this guy who doesn’t quite know the best way to communicate with this woman but he is still trying his best in order to win her over and I think that happens to us at a certain point in time in our lives. On that level I related to Jamia’s character when he is interacting with Mrs Babbar. Then there is the beautiful relationship with the brother and sister. The brother is a very clean guy, when I watch the show, I can relate to that because at that age, I was like that! Bhavin’s character is a very nice guy and that’s why everyone bullies him except Jamia’s character. I treat him as my younger brother and always try to help him. I could hugely relate to that as well.

What according to you is the main difference in working for a film and working for a web series?

For me the process is the same, I always say a theatre is an actor’s medium, on a certain day, I can change the pace of the show but every show is different, you are right there in front of the audience, cinema is a director’s medium. It is the vision of the director and he is guiding you, there are the costumes, the lights, the camera angles and then it is edited and that’s what makes your performance. The digital world is probably the best of both. People are consuming on a personal level, even though it is virtual reality which is the world we are living in now. But you also have the director’s technical tools to help you absorb. But for me the process remains the same. I put in the same amount of preparation and detailing for anything that I do. Even after that if it doesn’t work, it is the destiny of the show and then again for a digital show the cameras are slightly smaller but then these days films are being shot on iPhone! The whole technical revolution has bridged a lot of gaps!