EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW! Amol Parashar: As An Actor, I Think I Can Make People Sympathize With A Bad Person

'I Must Have Done Something Right That People Have Started Having Faith In Me'

Q. You often say that you get bored easily and are a little scared of being in a situation where you get too comfortable in a zone. So, how creatively satisfying is it for you as an actor when you get to do a film like Sardar Udham and then another one like Cash where both the projects are different as chalk and cheese?

A. That's what I live for. I am glad and feel lucky and maybe, I will take a little credit for myself here that I must have done something right that people have started having faith in me and are offering me such roles. Interestingly, I had shot Sardar Udham and Cash around the same time. It's nice and interesting that they are also coming around at the same time. In fact, I had just shot Sardar Udham right after Cash. I enjoy doing something new and fresh. Thankfully, the people who follow my work have also appreciated and encouraged me to do it even further. When you get a good response for various kinds of things, you feel motivated to experiment with new, interesting things. You want give them a shot not just for fun but because that's what the audience expects from you.

Q. Your character Armaan in Cash is someone who dreams of having his own startup and begins his entrepreneur journey when demonetization strikes in. Interestingly in real-life, you had mentioned that if not an actor, you would have started your own startup. Was it easier for you to relate to this character because you had a common ground with it?

A. It's an interesting coincidence. A lot of my friends from college and my batch-mates have been into startups. Some of them have got more learning than Cash (laughs). But that's the part and parcel of that industry. I always joke with my friends that my profession is also like a startup where I am the project on what I am working on. I am also my own product manager and the marketing person. I have the investors to invest money in me. In this case, my producers. The more subscribers you have, the more money you can get from the investors. When I talk to my friends from the startup industry, I always feel that what I do in real life is almost 95% like running a startup. It's just that mine is practically a one man startup where I am the product as well.

My character in Cash is that of a guy who has the craze of beginning his own startup. I have many friends who think like that and are passionate about doing something on their own. They have chosen this life. After a point, it stops being about how successful or unsuccessful it is, but it's just the idea what drives you. Your parents may advise you to get a stable job, get married and have kids. You can do that too. But sometimes, you have an idea and want to build it upon your own. That's something which I have seen and can relate to. It's not difficult to imagine that.

Of course, since Cash is a funny film, he's a little more exaggeration in terms of how far he is willing to go and the bizarreness of his idea is a little more. He is someone who tries to find opportunity in adversity.

'I Had A Tough Time When I Did Comedy On Camera For The First Time'

Q. Most actors say that it is harder to make the audience laugh that it is to make them cry. How do you manage to reinvent your comic timing each time? Is it more like a trial and error method or you have something else in your mind?

A. I think you learn that with time. I had a tough time when I did comedy on camera for the first time. Before that I had dabbled with theatre where I used to get instant feedback on my performance. Based on that, I could tweak my performance accordingly. But the first time when I performed proper comedy on camera, it was nerve-wracking. You perform something supposedly funny and nobody laughs at that time because the crew is busy performing their jobs. You come to know whether your performance is funny or not only after six months when it gets a release. That's when you get to know the result. I realized that this process was nerve-wrecking. You have to trust two-three people around you who tell you whether your act was humorous or not. Earlier, I used to be nervous about this but now with time, I have become a little confident. But always like anything else, you are never fully confident because it all depends on the final product. Sometimes you may feel that your take is brilliant but it might not go in the flow in the edited version. So, you get a clear picture only after the film is ready. The director is the person whom you need to trust the most.

Previously when I did comedy in TVF Tripling, I used to trust Sumeet (Sumeet Vyas). He is a very funny guy on screen. Speaking about Cash, Rishabh (director Rishabh Seth) had written the script. I had worked with him. He is a good friend and we share a lovely equation. We have had bad and good days of shooting together. So after a point even if I wanted to do five different things, I would eventually trust him and his opinion on my performance. Later on the editing table, he also got the option of choosing when it came to the scenes. In that way, we played a lot. We took full advantage of each other (laughs).

'Big Stars Doing OTT Shows Bring A Certain Mainstream Value To The Medium'

Q. Amol, you are one of those early birds who dabbled with the OTT space long before it came into vogue. Now in recent times, you have a lot of big stars like Ajay Devgn, Abhishek Bachchan, Sushmita Sen and others venturing into this space because according to them, it gives them the opportunity to reinvent themselves as actors. At the same time, you even have yesteryear actors starting their second innings on the OTT platform. Did you ever imagine back then there would be such a big craze for this digital space and how do you see this phenomenon?

A. I had never thought so much back then. Even when my first show came out, people didn't make much use of the OTT platform and were only well-versed with the term 'web series'. Most of them used to be curious about where those shows would be available. In fact even when I was doing my third-fourth web show, many of my co-stars were senior actors like Annu Kapoor, Parikshit Sahni. It was very cute to see them asking questions about the platform. It was interesting to watch them evolving and adapting to this medium at that age and figuring their way out. I always felt that the OTT trend would catch up but nobody had predicted that it would skyrocket to such an extent because of the pandemic. Actors who were earlier slowly warming up to this idea of OTT speeden up their process. Since there was an uncertainty around when the theatres would re-open, many of them decided to get OTT platform a shot. It offered them a kind of variety which I think no other medium offers right now. Sometimes you might have an interesting idea for a film but you would be apprehensive about it thinking whether people will watch it in theatres or not. Television has a limited genre where somethings work and somethings don't. But there are no such boundaries created in the digital space so far. If you make a story belonging to any genre whether it's funny, crime, thriller, horror or war; people will watch it if it's good. Every content finds its audience.

I think every actor is greedy to try different things. But now the theatres are opening up again, let's see what happens. Maybe some actors will say that they only want to do films while some may say that they only want to do web shows. I think overall, it's good for everyone. It's good for the bigger stars because I do believe them when they say that they get to do something new and interesting. They get to play parts which they haven't got to play in years maybe. Those who have been typecast into two-three genres get a chance to experiment. It brings a certain mainstream value to the medium. Earlier people used to differentiate between OTT and film actors but now those boundaries have been blurred. That's the healthy thing to happen to entertainment industry in general because now you are not drawing lines and saying 'Aap iss taraf yaa uss tarah ho.' So, people are not getting slotted. There's easy acceptance of any kind of artist or technician across all mediums. This kind of options and opportunities didn't exist before. If you drew boundaries and hard lines, people used think that they have mistakenly crossed the line and entered the other side. But now that fear doesn't exist anymore because there are so many people who are constantly playing with these formats and doing new things. I think it's a win-win for everyone. Even the audience gets to see people in new avatars and new stories. They get to watch their favourite actors doing interesting things.

'I Would Like To Get Into The Grey Zone Something On The Lines Of House Of Cards'

Q. You have played so many interesting characters until now but you are yet to experiment with an out-and-out negative role. Would you be all game for it when a director approaches you with something on that lines?

A. Definitely. In fact, I always mention this in my interviews hoping that someone would offer me a role like that (laughs). I had had this conversation with a few people because there have been a couple of times when we were talking about maybe a character or a story like that. I love them for saying that they would to show this side of mine. It's other matter that it probably didn't work out because I don't want to do something just for the sake of it. If the story doesn't work or doesn't come into place then I believe that it would be a waste of efforts. People might claim that they make films for themselves or act for themselves but it comes only to a full circle when people watch that work (smiles); whether they have good or bad things to say about it. Even if they criticize, you come to know what worked and what went wrong. So, it has to somewhere fall into place and I am sure that it will because whenever I had made such mentions in my interviews, I have got such offers (laughs).

My eyes and ears are open. I keep a tab on things around me. If I hear about something interesting happening, I always make an effort to at least pitch myself for it. I am a very evil man inside me which nobody has seen until now (laughs). I think as an actor, I can make people sympathize with a bad person. I would like to get into a grey zone like that something on the lines of House Of Cards. There you have an out-and-out evil person. You don't want to be on the side of a murderer or a conspirator. But for some reason if an actor is able to humanize that character, that's when we are able to see the flaws in ourselves. We always think that 'villain toh koi aur hote hai, hum thode hi villain hain.' We believe that villains wear a certain kind of clothes or talk or behave in a certain way.

But sometimes like portraying a hero, you make the people see the hero in them, it would be very interesting if by portraying certain villains, we can also make people see the villains in them. If we are able to make those people real and make the audience feel for them, that's also a part of human experience.

While playing such characters, you have to empathize that they are human beings at the end of the day and find just the buttons. If you are able to find the emotion behind their actions then you start enjoying yourself as an actor and get to experience different kinds of reality. I have seen performances like that. I have watched actors do that. Sometimes if even you hate them, you know that this is a real person and something that exists in this world.

'Being Alone Or Doing Nothing Never Makes Me Anxious'

Q. As an actor, do you like to be on your toes all the time or you believe in disconnecting from work from time to time?

A. I think I am a person who can't disconnect. I can do that for maybe a day or two but a lot of my joy and motivation to wake up in the morning comes from what happening next, all the planning and strategy. Even if I am chilling, there are always some mathematical calculations and work-related thoughts at the back of my mind. That's who I am. I have accepted that including everyone close to me. They also tell me to take leave and go on a vacation but I am not able to do that. It's very rare that I have gone on a holiday with no work and no agenda at all. I am like if I am going somewhere, I will also wrap up two meetings there (laughs). But I do disconnect internally a lot. Now, I have started doing that where sometimes I just disconnect myself. I don't pick up calls and if I receive text messages, I reply to them only the next day. I am like today, I will just laze around and stare at the ceiling.

Q. I think it's very important for actors to do that to keep their sanity intact...

A. I have spent a lot of time alone as a child. This is not a sad philosophical thing. This is a reality. Both my parents used to go to work so I used to be alone at home. So, I am used to staying alone, thinking and imagining. When people are on their own or get bored, they get anxious and start wondering why there are alone and why nothing is happening in their lives. But I think being alone or doing nothing never makes me anxious. I can very easily do nothing. I might not go somewhere out thinking that I might miss out on work but I am used to spending time on my own. I like and enjoy that. It makes me connect with myself. There's so much happening in this profession and life. The more you grow, the number of things just increases. Thankfully, I now have my manager and other people in my life who help me to disconnect.