EXCLUSIVE | Netflix's 'Vijay 69' actor Anupam Kher: 'Earlier, I was trying to prove to the world that I'm a brilliant actor, now my competition is with...'

Anupam Kher began his journey at the age of 29 by playing a 60-plus retired common man in mentor Mahesh Bhatt’s aching Saaransh. Cut to 2024, he has been hailed as the most profitable actor many times, has successfully completed more than 500 films, written two very inspirational books, hosted a chat show about the inner personalities and hidden struggles of actors and filmmakers, and hosted a show called Manzilen Aur Bhi Hain.

He now gears up for a new film called Vijay 69 that will stream on Netflix on November 8. And in an exclusive interview with Firstpost, spoke about it.

Edited excerpts from the interview

I first want to start by asking you about your 40 years in the industry, more than 500 films, how would you describe your journey?

Miraculous. Fantastic. Superb. Gratitude. Thankfulness. It’s a great journey. I’m thankful to my producer, directors, and the god almighty for giving me a possibility. There’s a beautiful line in the film that dreams have no expiry dates, I’d like to add they don’t have any quota either. I genuinely believe all dreams come true. All dreams come true. You just have to work hard and be honest and be optimistic about it.

Be it Saaransh, be it Shola Aur Shubnam, be it A Wednesday, be it Khosla Ka Ghosla, be it Vijay 69; how do you prepare for your characters? What does your prep look like as well?

Over a period of time, things have changed. My preparation style has changed. Earlier, I was trying to prove to the world that I’m a brilliant actor. And, now my competition is with myself, when you’ve done so much work, you can only give your best if you make your job difficult. And as an actor, you can make your job difficult by thinking how not to do it in a conventional manner. Let’s try and sort of do it in a different manner. Even signature, which right now is being talked about. In this character, I’m in every film, I’m not in a hurry now to, sort of say. I just like to create a character which is very unlike my own personality, Very unlike the way I would like to do.

Like, if I have to, do a scene which sort of says that inherent anger is there. But there are millions of them. 4 people are sitting here, 7 people are behind the camera. There are 11 ways of doing anger scenes. I’m not a lazy actor. It’s laziness which makes a brilliant actor into a mediocre actor. I may be lazy about anything else, but not when it comes to my job. And I also discovered at a very early stage that what you do in front of the camera is registered now for 1000 of years. But I don’t want to either. I think opening an acting school gave me an added sense of responsibility.

I don’t want my students to see me and say ‘Yeh humara Principle hai?’ And also opportunities like Vijay 69 are brilliant opportunities. You can’t go wrong. You can’t get a script like this and be not 100%. You have to be 100% because there’s a possibility that the opportunity is given. And you’re also doing one film at a time. I learned how to swim for this film. I never would have thought. I thought I am 68 right now, obviously, swimming technique is a good thing. But that was a challenge. The parallel between my personal life and Vijay’s life of ambition, of dreams is the same.

I have given everything to Vijay 69. All of us have given in whatever reservoir we have. And also, I think when you are doing the role of the film, it’s your job to inspire everybody to do their best. It’s not an individual’s journey. If I am 100% giving myself and he’s giving 80, no. He has to give 100%. He has to give 100%. And that’s what everybody has done. We’re very fortunate to have a director and writer in Akshay who ’s not 69. He’s much, much younger. But for him also in his mind, I think with all that story running, I have to make this film a success, for myself to sort of validate myself.

I remember I was having breakfast with Yash Chopra ji at his house when his secretary came and said ‘Kaka ready hai.’ He was taught how to ride a horse and do action and when the discussion about acting came, he said, ‘Woh to seekh jaayega.’ (Laughs) If you can prove yourself to be an actor, you can live longer in today’s time. Otherwise, you can be a star. How many people go viral in today’s time? Everyday, there are some viral stories. Everyday, there are some people trending on social media. You don’t remember who was trending yesterday on social media? Nobody.

One of my all time favourite characters of yours is Major IM Lathi from Shola aur Shabnam. It’s a fantastic character. Tremendous amount of repeat value. What are your memories of shooting that?

Oh, amazing. Amazing. The best thing about David Dhawan is that he has a rough idea of the scene and rough idea of the script and poori picture set pe hi banti hai. My character is a big fan of Sridevi. And then, Govinda and other people play a prank on him that she’s staying in room number 368. He shaves off his moustache he prides and goes to meet her in that room. He lies down next to her. And he says ‘Aaj badi different lag rahi ho,’, and this and that. And then she turns and he turns towards her. It was all improvised. I had a great time and I meet so many people whose favorite film is Shola Aur Shabnam. It was great working on that film and Govinda is a very fine actor.