Pankaj Kapur on audiences demanding realic acting from stars: ‘When better sense starts prevailing…’

When actor Pankaj Kapur looks around and sees a change in the content of films and the acting style today, he is a happy man. The veteran, who had popularised what is often colloquially called ‘realic acting’ in the 80s and 90s, says the evolution and the audiences demand of not settling for anything less is “part of the growth”.
Pankaj Kapur featured in some of the most revered films of–what came to be known as–the parallel cinema movement, with movies like Mandi, Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro,  Mohan Joshi Hazir Ho, Raakh and Ek Doctor Ki Maut.
In a conversation with , Kapur says the betterment of films and acting style is a ‘moment to be celebrated’. “I react to audiences demanding realic acting from stars with a smile on my face. I suppose it is a part of growth. Somewhere better things are being realised and as I said, better sense will eventually prevail”.
Pankaj Kapur reflects on the changing times in cinema. (Photo: Express Archive)
Pankaj Kapur, who was last seen on the big screen opposite his actor son Shahid Kapoor in this year’s drama Jersey, says things undergo a change the moment people are able to differentiate between “right and wrong”.
“At some point people need to understand what is right, what is wrong. So, whenever the realisation dawns, it is a great moment in life– whether it is to do with the style of acting, acting in general, content of films, conditions in the country… The moment when better sense starts prevailing, it is a moment to be celebrated”.

The initial recognition of his work in the 80s transformed into a breakthrough for Pankaj Kapur with the arrival of TV in the country. The small screen gave Kapur a wide canvas to show his acting potential, when he starred on the popular show Karamchand. From 1985 onwards, Kapur kept juggling films with active, much-loved TV work.
For every Khandhar and Khamosh, feature films Mrinal Sen and Vidhu Vinod Chopra, respectively, there were Mungerilal Ke Haseen Sapne and Zabaan Sambhalke, shows which brought him nationwide love. Kapur credits his success to luck, timing and almighty’s blessings.
“A bit of it was luck, but the desire was to do different characters as an actor. I was fortunate, God was gracious to me, that a medium called TV came up and I was able to different kind of characters there. That gave me an opportunity to tell my audience, producers, directors that this is the kind of actor I am. Eventually they woke up to my kind of work and I started getting some work in films as well and the kind of films I wanted to be a part of”.

After a relatively low-key film work in the 90s, Kapur found his footing again, with the 2000 TV show Office Office. As the middle class Musaddi Lal navigating his way through a corrupt system, Kapur found unprecedented acclaim, which he successfully translated into more stellar work in the next decade with films like Maqbool and The Blue Umbrella, both helmed Vishal Bhardwaj.
Kapur says the work which followed was nothing like he had ever done before and has now left him in a space where he feels he cannot repeat what has worked for him so far. “The work that came my way was a departure from what was being made in the 80s. The challenge today is to be better than what I have done already.”

 
The actor recently starred in filmmaker Ketan Mehta’s short Toba Tek Singh, based on writer Saadat Hassan Manto’s 1955 story of the same name. The 70-minute short, which had its TV premiere on Zindagi DTH platforms, features Kapur as Bishan Singh, Manto’s central character in the India-Pakan partition story which seeks to understand the horrors of displacement.

Kapur says even after decades of work behind him, he looks at every new film offer with a clean slate, beginning again with the same freshness that was when he began his journey as an actor. “You have to approach every project with a sense of newness. If you lose that, you have lost yourself being an actor.
“If you are not keen about what you are doing, you will be mechanical about it. Unless you have a certain level of nervousness and excitement about your work, it doesn’t form you to be really an actor with some conscience. You have to put in that level of excitement, I still do that,” he adds.