Bengalis have made a mark in Bollywood due to sheer talent: Saurabh Shukla

National Award-winning actor, screenwriter, and director Saurabh Shukla, who delivered a master class on acting at the 29th International Film Festival on Friday, swears by his Bengali genes and can’t stop praising the city’s food and culture. “My mother was Bengali, so her genes run in me too. I also love Bengali food, especially fish. But though I can understand Bengali very well, I’m not very fluent when it comes to speaking it,” he said during a freewheeling chat with us.Excerpts:
Salman Khan said at the KIFF inaugural that Bollywood has welcomed Bengalis with an open heart and now, it’s Tollywood’s turn to welcome them. Any plans of doing a Bengali film?
I’ve travelled the world and wherever I’ve gone, I never felt that they belong to some other place. We all more or less talk about the same ethics and ideologies. So, working in a Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, or Marathi film doesn’t matter to me, as a film is where you tell a story.
Moreover, Bengalis just came to Bollywood and made their mark with sheer talent. It doesn’t stop anyone coming from outside. Of course one has to know the nuances of the culture. I’m open to working in any industry if the story and my character is meaty enough. I keep in touch with some directors such as Arindam Sil and Kaushik Ganguly from Kolkata, not for work but as a friend.
You took a master class in acting at KIIF? Have you ever taken any formal training in acting?
I’ve been taking lessons since the day I started, but no formal training where you get a certificate on completing the course (laughs)! I’m not from the National School of Drama, but I was lucky that I could enter the campus, as they liked me and my work. I had access to libraries and teachers there. So, whatever queries I had, the teachers used to help me out. So, it was like free education, but how much you can take from it depends on you.
Your first film released in 1993 (Bandit Queen) and 2023 is coming to an end. How has the industry changed over the years?
Change is the only constant in life and industry has only changed for the better. When the whole world is changing, why will the film industry be stagnant? The industry is more organized, new values in terms of professionalism have come, yes, there are new moralities which we have borrowed from society, and it has come into the telling of the stories. And of course, the language and styling of storytelling has also changed for the better. I am a positive person by nature, so I see positivity around me. I don’t believe in the phrase- ‘Our time was the best time’. So, does that mean today’s time is not ours? That means you have given up. Today is my time, it was my time, and it is still my time. I must embrace everything with a smile and deep down believe that it will come with odds. You will like something and not like something... and that’s life is all about.
How hard is it to stay relevant in today’s time?
It is important to stay relevant as that’s the basis of everyone’s life. In whatever profession one might be, one has to stay relevant to survive. That’s the reason we fear old age where we might not be relevant. If you ask what’s your dream, people will say, ‘I just want to work till the end’. Because somehow, when you say ‘work’, it doesn’t only mean it earns you ‘bread and butter’, it also means you are needed, you are wanted, you are relevant.
OTT or big screen, what excites you more?
I have only one life and I don’t believe in coming back as a human being in my next life. I know it’s a finite life, so why should I settle for one thing? Why only films? Why only theatre? Why only television? Why only sports? Why only OTT? Boss, I have only one life and whatever will come my way and my heart says go for it, I will go for it. As simple as that. Added to that, people ask me what is my favourite medium of acting? I tell them that I believe in being and living in the moment and enjoy doing what you are doing at that time. Creative kick is important, be it OTT, film, theatre or television.
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