I don't have the PR machinery to win commercial awards - Saurabh Shukla

The beauty of National Awards is that it recognizes and awards true talent as compared to other humdrum commercial awards which focus more on popularity and charisma rather than acting brilliance. A day after he bagged the National Award for ‘Best Supporting Actor,’ for his role in Jolly LLB, we caught up with veteran actor Saurabh Shukla for a heartfelt chat on the joys of winning a National Award when commercial ones have eluded him. Many congratulations. How many phone calls did you receive since you won the award? (Laughs) I kept on receiving calls till the battery of my phone went dead. What does winning a National Award mean to you? As an Indian citizen, it means a lot to me because finally all said and done a National Award has its own prestige, and its own class. You can’t compare it with any other award of the land. It is of the highest value and I am extremely happy that I have finally reached a place and position in life where I could get this award. What’s the best compliment you have received till date for your ‘Judge act’ in Jolly LLB? I don’t know who said this but it was a message passed on to me by someone through a friend. And the message read, ‘How could somebody do this? It looks like Saurabh has been sitting behind that desk since the last 15 years?’ You have received a National Award after spending a long time in this industry. Do you think you have finally received your due? Yes. It is very gratifying and humbling when you get a recognition like this. I have never thought or complained that I have never been given my due because whatever I wanted this industry and society have allowed me to do that and they have recognized me for my talent. So I am grateful to this industry for all that. Commercial awards have eluded you. Is there any grouse that your talent has not been recognized at popular award functions? There is no grouse. Everything has its purpose. Yesterday also a lot of people asked me that you have been doing work that should have been awarded long time back. So what do you have to say about that? All I have to say is it is not in my hands and it is not my area. I shouldn't be saying that I deserve an award. By that logic, everyone in this industry deserves an award because everybody feels that they are talented. But the point is it is not my prerogative. It is for the people who give you the award to decide. Now you can’t demand people to love you. Similarly I can’t demand or keep a grouse that why don’t they love me enough to give me a popular award. Whenever they think that I am worthy of that, whatever the reason is whether it is power, recognition or talent per say, they will give it me. You expressed surprise at winning the National Award. Were you not expecting to win? Frankly speaking, I have not got too many awards. But whenever I have got an award, I have been surprised and it has a simple reason. I have never done any preparation for any award be it pr or meeting anybody. I don’t even know till date for which all commercial awards I have been nominated. So whenever they inform me that I have been nominated, I get surprised and say ‘ Acha, alright.’ Now in normal commercial awards, there is a lot PR activity and everything else that is involved. So I don’t have that machinery with me. But with national awards, they don’t announce nominations. You are not pre-informed. Your name is suggested by the production house and then they quietly take a call and announce the winners. So I had no idea that my name was under consideration and I never followed it. Somehow I didn't know till yesterday that the national awards will be announced. So it came as a big surprise suddenly because someone from a television channel called me up to inform the same and I thought maybe someone is playing a prank on me. And then it dawned on me that I had indeed won a national award. Why don’t you hire a PR to help you get good leverage in commercial awards? No, I don’t want to. I am happy this way. I believe in travelling light. In fact, I drive my own car. I don’t even keep a driver. So I like my personal space and I like my independence. Any dream roles that you would like to essay? (Thinks) More than a dream role, I would say it is a dream script that I am looking for. I hope they keep on coming to me with good scripts. What are your upcoming projects? I am doing Salman Khan’s Kick, Jagga Jasoos and then one of my biggest films will release the end of this year called P.K and I have a very good role in that. Unfortunately, I cannot talk about it at the moment because I am bound by a contract.