Anupam Kher he recently added a prestigious feather to his cap by winning Best Supporting Actor at the UK Asian Film Festival for the Indo-Canadian film Calorie. The win holds deep personal significance for the veteran actor. The film is about the devastating impact of the Kanishka air tragedy on a family. Air India Flight 182, en route from Montreal to London to Delhi, was brought down by a bomb in mid-air on 23 June 1985. The plane plunged into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Ireland, and the 329 people on board were rescued, including 268 Canadians and 24 Indian nationals. “The story was very personal for our director Eisha Marjara because her mother was on the flight. I had to go beyond acting skills and crafts to feel the emotions of the film,” he shares.
“Competition is the greatest enemy of brilliance,” Kher says of his approach to actors
Despite the emotional weight the role carried, Anupam is thrilled that his performance has received the recognition it deserves, reports Hindustan Times. “Achhe roles ko karne ke liye aur zyada mehnat karni padti hai, and when you’ve worked so hard, there’s a chance you’ll become competent. I feel competence is the biggest enemy of brilliance. So I treat every film like my first. In the last decade or so, I’ve shifted gears to break the monotony. I choose the work I choose to sink my teeth into a little bit,” he says.
Kher says he feels he represents 1.4 billion Indians on international platforms
More than four decades into an illustrious career, the thrill of winning an award has never faded for Kher and the achievement rings a bell when it comes to representing India on the international stage. “It sounds dramatic, but actors don’t officially represent their country on the world stage the way athletes do. So whenever I work abroad, I say “Bharat Mata ki Jai” before every work. Although I am not a brand ambassador for the country, somewhere I am representing 1.4 billion Indians,” he emphasized.
Kher on troll culture: ‘Logon ko celebrate karne mein darr lagta hai’
However, Kher admits that basking in such triumphs is no longer as easy as it used to be in filmmaking. “I was talking to Anil Kapoor because he thinks people have stopped celebrating life and their victories. We used to throw amazing Bollywood parties earlier. Yash Chopra or Subhash Ghaitoday we no longer celebrate them kyunki logon ko karne mein darr lagta hai ki kahin na kahin koi kuch galat nikaal lega, and that fear is there. We live in such a time and we have to adapt, but take hoti hai kabhi kabhira,” he muses.
