EXCLUSIVE | Ananth Mahadevan on playing a sexually abusive father in his film 'Yes Papa': 'What struck me was...'

Actor-filmmaker Ananth Mahadevan and Geetika Tyagi are gearing up for their film called ‘Yes Papa’. The film delves into the life of a daughter who becomes a victim of abuse, perpetrated by her own father. In an exclusive interview with Firstpost, the two spoke about their prep for the script, the reaction to the story, and carrying the roles they play back home.

Edited excerpts from the interview:

What was your initial reaction when you read the script?

Anant: Well, to tell you frankly, I didn’t read the script. I was narrated the concept and the general overview of what the film was about, that it was about child abuse at the hands of a father, a parent, with a girl child. And what actually sort of struck me was since these are not the kind of roles that an actor normally gets, and it’s tough to sort of, you know, get your mind to, I mean, reconcile with this kind of a character. And how do you really play it when you don’t believe in that character at all? Or you would never, ever want to be a character like that? So, what struck me was that, okay, here’s a challenge that is good for an actor. And the challenge also to play it differently, because I didn’t want to make it the regular, you know, as mundane as it sounds, it could be something so shockingly invisible and different and not so apparent, that it gave me a lot of scope to delve into things that I’ve not done before. So, besides the fact that it was a very, very about time film, socially relevant, it also gave me something to sort of, you know, to get minds teeth into. So, that’s, it was exciting on that level.

More from Entertainment

Netflix's Saare Jahan Se Accha Review: Pratik Gandhi, Anup Soni, Sunny Hinduja, Suhail Nayyar will keep you glued in this sharp espionage show Kabir Khan reveals he fought with CBFC to keep ‘Jai Shri Ram’ scene in Salman Khan's Bajrangi Bhaijaan: 'They said that Muslims won’t...'

Geetika: I keep myself from mediocre work and I snatch you from me that I, I mean, I prefer roles based on socially relevant subjects and I kind of, I’m repeating myself that, you know, I like strong women and I like telling strong women stories. And playing strong women characters on screen and not in theater as well. So, when this particular thing in my way, I obviously said yes because of the subject, first of all, then the character and the nature, I mean protagonist basically, and then the layer it had, you know, like dialogues something, like in a lot of making it. And I also have, like, I totally, totally believe that, you know, sorry, socially relevant subjects as an actor can be really impactful, you know, allowing you to contribute to meaningful, meaningful projects and, you know, raise awareness also to your work. So, that is why I said yes to it and I’m a DD actor. So, I also have a little piece particular subject for you. After I, after steps go to me and I ask him very, very clearly, but I do very selective work sets. So, when he, like, read the concepts, because there was no script as such at that time. So, was your part person, right? And I said yes and I thought it would, it would definitely, you know, engage audiences and promote cultural discussions.

How did you prepare for this role? What was the brief given to you because you have so many years of experience as an actor, but this is a character that I don’t think we have seen in Hindi cinema in these many years.

Anant: It needed a very delicate balance, I thought, I mean, everyone has this stereotype image of what, you know, an abusive person, parent, whatever you want to call the character would be. So, I wanted to give them a totally different and absolutely diametrically opposite vision of that. So, we conjured up this entire thing of the man being a singer, the man humming the most memorable romantic numbers of Hindi cinema, but those memorable numbers actually sound eerie in the film, you know, they, if the romance is killed, but it sort of surfaces in another vicious way. And he uses those lines, he uses the lyrics, almost to reflect his, you know, mental, you know, thoughts at that point of time. And so, he’s a singer, he likes to hum, he likes to sing, and that gives him a more vicious edge. Also, it takes off on a lot of, you know, where you want to separate the artists and the man, you know, in one person. Do you respect the artist or you do disrespect the man? So, it’s a tough question to answer, especially when it comes to a lot of filmmakers who are being hauled up for rape these days, or, you know, be a artist or singers who were accused of abusing little children. So, you know, I thought, let’s add a little genial touch to this man. And at the same time, make him so unpredictably dangerous. So, what you see in the film is a man who’s just
there, you know, he’s not looking menacing, he’s not sounding menacing, he’s talking very normally, and he just, you know, sort of glides through the film, and it’s, you know, so tough to, you know, actually imagine that this man could resort to this kind of violence, I mean, it is
violence, it is victimization, it is, you know, violation. So, that a man could do that. So, I wanted to play him as the man next door, I wanted to play him as a man, you would never think would be a rapist or a terrorist or some kind of a danger to society. So, that’s how I decided to pitch him.

And Geetika, since you play a daughter who has been abused by her father, how was your approach to the character like?

You know, you know what, as a woman, it’s a sad fact that, you know, almost everybody, I won’t say many women, I’ll say all women, you know, have to face molestation or sexual harassment at some point in their lives. That’s what I was saying. So, for me, it wasn’t important to show in society that it requires awareness and action, as an actor to make me meet a woman, so this was a very big thing. So, they just, like, I didn’t have any personal reference points for this role, but I had the ability to understand, you know, through examples, through social and, you know, like, other studies, you know, as an actor, you are a part of this, you are a part of this, you are a part of this, I’ve all the journalists also earlier. So, I don’t know about all these things, these other Malum farmers, after personal experiences for me, but at the same time, I said that, I did not have any personal reference points for this particular thing, like, child sexual abuse. And I am a very spontaneous actor, directors’ actor, completely, but at the same time, no matter how spontaneous you are, you, you are, it’s a tight role can never be easy. So, I, I used to talk about this character which says,
we all, when we are trying to meet, or we are talking normally, or anything, I made it a point that I have to talk to him about it.

You have given such a memorable villainous character to us in the form of Ayesha Jhulka’s uncle in Khiladi back in 1992. In these 32 years, how much do you feel the meaning of the word villain or antagonist has evolved in Hindi cinema?

You see, the villain was always a stereotype. The villain had to look many things. The villain had to have big eyes and the villain had to make faces. And he was so obvious, so obvious that you, I mean, you knew he was a villain all the while. You know, but I think along the years, slowly the face of the villain changed, the outlook, the perspective of audiences changed. And, villain started looking very normal. Villains were, like I said, the people next door. And, they were, in fact, two endings to Khiladi, the film you are referring to. There was one ending in which the entire confession that I made was with a very blank voice and a very blank face. I just said it, okay, this happened, this happened, this is what I did. I went there and I saw that girl loon. And then I just, I thought it was her and I killed her. I made a mistake.
It was as flat as that. And then, the directors, Abbas and Mustan, and said, okay, this, this sounds realistic and good. How about giving us something that is more dramatic than a popular audience and we’ll see which one to keep? So, then I did that particular confession that you finally see where, you know, I go really dramatic and say, oh my god, this happened.
And then I did this and then I did that. And which was something that I wasn’t very convinced about because the normally people who are there in the confession room say just, you know, they blankly blurred it out. You know, okay, this is what I did now. What do I do about it?
You know, there’s nothing I can do about it kind of things. So, and to my, I would say, I wish they had retained the other one when which I had done it very blankly and flatly. Because that’s how I see people, you know. They just, I mean, they don’t have a care in the world.
They shameless. They’re so thick skinned and they have no explanation to offer. Yeah, this is what I did. You take it or leave it kind of things. So, villains becomes so, I would say, you know, invisible in that sense that you can’t. You know, there is no line that you can break and go and read their mind. They look as normal as you and me. And they sort of, you know, entertain evil thoughts in their mind. I mean, the man who cheats you, the man who doesn’t pay you, the man who robs you, the man who cons you, the man who hacks your computer.
They all look so, so, so normal. So, that is the dangerous part of the villain today that you can’t recognize the villain. And I think that is the metamorphosis that has happened over the years.

Actors are often asked if they carry the role home. Do you snap out of it? Are you a switch on switch off actor?

Anant: Let me quote the scene where, Geetika says ’look into my eyes and look into my soul’. I mean, every time I see it, I don’t know them. Right? Gitika can correct me. But after doing something like that, no actor can actually just switch off. I’m not saying stay in the character, but the actor in you tries to analyze yourself and say, so this is how I managed to do this. Was I successful? Did I reach a point where it really took the life out of me? And did I give it all I have got? And, and I actually felt it. So that magic of that moment is what stays with you. It’s not the character that stays with you. It’s your accomplishment as an actor that stays with you. And I could imagine what Geetika must have felt it after doing that scene. She must have stayed in that moment as an actor, not as a character.

Geetika: I’m not superstitious about it, so I can share it. I don’t know how, but, I did feel that I’m kind of that girl who has suffered this trauma or that embarrassment. Because of something happened in her life, and she’s taken the step and I could feel it. You feel the great satisfaction of having pulled off something like this so well, and I think you deserve it.