By Dibyojyoti Baksi
Mumbai, Feb 15 (IANS) He's done more than 400 films but still yearns to act with first-time directors. Anupam Kher says debutant filmmakers keep him alive as an actor and he would love to don the director's hat again himself.
"In the last five years I have launched only new directors, whether it was Dibakar Banerjee, Neeraj Pandey or Ayan Mukerjee. I love working with first-time directors," Kher told IANS in an interview.
"Their passion for work is unbelievable. They know their mind. It's not that they want to make a film because they have nothing else to do. You will see me working with lots of first-time directors. I get to learn a lot of things from them and that keeps me alive as an actor," he said.
Kher directed a film nine years ago, but it flopped. He is now once again ready with two scripts and looking for a financier.
"I would love to direct a film. I am ready with two scripts. I am looking for a financier," said Kher, whose 2002 directorial debut "Om Jai Jagdish" failed to impress critics and audiences.
The 55-year-old actor believes this is the best phase of Indian cinema and says he would continue exploring different kinds of cinema for another 25 years.
"This is the best phase of Indian cinema. Audience is ready to see a film that doesn't fit into a formula and I'm happy that I am still working and I will be working for another 25 years and I will still be exploring possibilities of different kinds of cinema."
"So this phase for a person like me, who is a trained actor from the National School of Drama, who runs an acting school...it's a very, very exciting period," he said.
The Padma Shri awardee entered the world of Hindi films with a powerful performance in "Saaransh" in 1984. Since then he has played the funnyman, villain and serious roles with equal elan in his nearly three-decade-long career.
But after doing diverse characters in more than 400 films, does he still believe that there are fresh roles he would like to essay?
"If you ask me after 40 years of my career, I will still say there are hundreds of roles that I am still looking forward to do. It's too early to answer that."
Kher, who has played a father in umpteen films like "Tezaab"(1988), "Daddy" (1989), "Dil" (1990) and "Dil Hai Ki Manta Nahin" (1991), is donning daddy's role yet again. But he promises a unique father-daughter relationship in debutant director Yogesh Mittal's "Yeh Faasley".
"The story of this film is fantastic. I have done lots of film on father-daughter relationships like 'Daddy' and 'Dil Hai Ki Manta Nehi', but the aspects of the father-daughter relationship that 'Ye Faasley' has touched upon, I have never done before...," he claimed.
"I don't think the relationship between a father and daughter has been exposed like this till now. It's very intriguing.
"In over 400 films of my career I may have played father in almost 300 films, but this role is completely different. He is arrogant, ambitious, yet a loving person. The thing that attracted me was the script and the interpretation of the father's role," Kher explained.
Debutant actor Tena Desae plays his daughter in the film releasing March 4.