Kay Kay Menon “Grabbing roles isn’t my forte”

Kay Kay Menon is now all set to make his Marathi debut with Ek Sangaychay: Unsaid Harmony. The acclaimed actor who is playing the lead in the film, which will be the directorial debut of actor Lokesh Vijay Gupte, tells our Cine Buster correspondent in this exclusive interview that he is very glad acting in a Marathi film for the first time after having completed 80 films in 23 years in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu.

You have acted till date in around 80 Hindi films. What made you instantly agree to enter Marathi cinema?
I keep watching Marathi films. The subjects tried there manage to move me. As soon as Lokesh narrated the script to me, it touched my heart and I instantly agreed to do it.

To what extent, do you think that speaking the language would be a problem for you, since your mother tongue happens to be Malayalam?
Having stayed in Maharashtra, I have been hearing Marathi and I understand it. I will be learning to speak Marathi for the film.

What is the film Ek Sangaychay: Unsaid Harmony all about?
It is a very topical and contemporary film about the unsaid conversation between kids and parents. The film is an attempt at showcasing the change in lifestyle, the hectic schedule of parents, expectations from children, constantly changing world, competition, changing mentalities of kids and parents and its good and bad effects on them.

The film is about a very pertinent social cause. Did you ask Lokesh Vijay Gupte why did he choose you for the role?
Lokesh Vijay Gupte told me that he actually wanted an excellent actor with a great personality and an actor who would understand the subject and play it effectively and hence he had chosen me.

How would you rate Lokesh Vijay Gupte as a director?
Not just the director, but also the writer in him was convinced with me. After a meeting with me, he said that his decision was reconfirmed and he locked my name. It is for the first time that I am acting in a Marathi film in my career. I realized when I was shooting for the film that the director was in complete control of the subject.

I think that after a long time, your Marathi film is being readied in a record period?
Yes. You would not at all believe it but the fact is that the film Ek Sangaychay-Unsaid Harmony went go on floors on 9 March and will be released during Dussehra on 18 October this year. It helped me speak in Marathi as I am a Punekar and know Marathi since my childhood.

You have earlier also acted in South Indian films, besides Hindi?
Yes. I had acted in Vetrimaran’s Tamil film Udayam and the Tamil-Telugu bilingual film The Ghazi Attack but on the condition that I would speak my dialogues only in Hindi.

You seem to be very choosy as far as selecting films are concerned!
I accept only scripts that are cinema vis –a- vis the so called plethora of non -cinema that exists today which survives only because it is an extension of the market hype. As an actor, I have always believed in adhering to the script when the director sets out to narrate it to me, because I feel that the script has everything that an actor needs to hone his craft and it is only a matter of how much hard work that the actor puts in and how much hard work the director infuses to make his character come alive on the screen.

Your wife Nivedita has not acted in many films with you. Why?
My wife Nivedita is a damn good actress but I do not suggest the names of actors to my directors when they cast me in their films, because I feel that it is the director’s call.

How would you rate the kind of Hindi films which are being churned out these days?
I have absolutely no qualms to say that 80% of the trash in which multi crore mega bucks are spent are just ornamentation, which is one of the main reason why we in India are able to come up with only very few precious films like say Kahani or for that matter Pan Singh Tomar.

What is the remedy?
We try our level best to link ourselves with Cinema. Cinema can be good or bad but at least we should make a sincere attempt to make good Cinema. Would you buy rotten apples, when you still find some good apples lying around? I have no issues absolutely with songs and item numbers as long as the content is there but the day you make embellishment as Cinema, there is no Cinema. I am extremely worried about the state of Cinema in our country today. We are actually eroding and corrupting to the core the ethos and the sanctity of Cinema.

What irks you about today’s Cinema?
It irks me that today cinema is minus content. The accent is mostly on bodies, figures, garments, looks and you call it Cinema. My challenge is very simple. I will take you to Bandra and show you better bodies and garments. What is unique about your film? Can you just show me one more Irrfan Khan or Naseeruddin Shah? You cannot. That’s the whole point. Cinema has to have acting first and you have to patronize the uniqueness of performance. Most of the mainstream Cinema today is nothing but escapism because there is no talent and with money power, mediocrity can be made the King and you can call it Cinema and brainwash the audiences with marketing and a lot of mind-boggling hype. I have no qualms to state that only 5% actors exist in India and the rest of the 95% just pose as actors.

Can you elucidate?
The biggest problem is that actors are supposed to do anything and everything but because people are so used to ‘posers’ who have become stars, everyone feels that it is incredible if actors are required to do different roles. Hollywood has its own share of bad films but what is laudable is that actors like Brad Pitts and Robert Russel are also stars and there is no disparity at all there. Why is it not the same case here in Bollywood? Shame on us here in Bollywood that Naseeruddin Shah isn’t at all considered a big star compared to zillions of non actors who masquerade in Bollywood as stars. I do not expect anyone to be as talented but at least there should be no disparity, because you just cannot help it that moneybags are more with mediocre people than talented people.

What is needed to restore Cinema?
There needs to be a collective will to try and restore Cinema and make it popular too. I have worked in films which have not been mostly patronized because not all of them were backed by biggest banners. Corruption is of ethos too, not just money or for that matter content or Cinema. If we do not wake up and smell the coffee soon, what legacy are we going to leave for our kids?

Which are your best films till date in your career?
I have acted in as many as 80 films in a span of two decades, starting with a cameo role in Saeed Mirza’s Naseem, though Bhopal Express was my first film as the protagonist. Out of them, I can proudly state that at least 8 are close to my heart and I am quite proud of them. They are Paanch, which is yet to be released, Hazaaron Khwaishe Aisi Hai, Black Friday, Shaurya, Sankat City, Gulaal, Sarkar and Honey Moon Travels. I concede that I have played certain interesting as well as indifferent characters too. No actor can say that all the ten films in which he has acted have been brilliant films. As an actor, you should be happy if out of the 80 odd films in which you have acted, at least eight to nine films are brilliant.

You are never known to manipulate your way to work. Why?
Manipulating my way to banners isn’t my style of working. Grabbing roles isn’t at all my forte, because I am of the opinion that grabbing is a quality only of people who are insecure as far as their work is concerned. I feel that each and every actor in this profession ought to get work on his or her merit.

Do you have plans to turn to direction?
When you are slightly brilliant in what you are doing, people start asking you what your retirement age is, like they did with Sachin Tendulkar. Similarly I am often asked these days when I will be taking up direction. All that I can say is that the day I am bored with acting, I will quit acting, but would not take up direction.