Veteran actor Saurabh Shukla's phone hasn't stopped ringing since yesterday. His role as godman 'Tapasvi Maharaj' has been drawing rave reviews and there has been a deluge of congratulatory messages reaching him via his cellphone. The man of the moment is however away shooting for Prakash Jha's next in Bhopal.
Speaking to us over phone, an elated Saurabh says, "I wouldn't be exaggerating if I say my role in PK has been the most difficult one ever. I say this purely because all my previous roles had a reference point but this one had nothing. I have never visited an ashram or a godman. Whatever we know about godman is through the media and through other people who have visited such godmen and it's a stereotypical image of them. When Raju (Rajkumar Hirani) narrated me the script, the first thing we discussed was that we shouldn't be playing the role in the usual stereotypical way."
For Saurabh what makes the film special is the treatment of the subject where they haven't tagged every godman as a fraud or criminal. "We are not saying every godman is a criminal. If somebody wears a thread which gives them hope who are you to take away that hope even if that is false? That was one of the questions put in the film. Whenever there have been attempts to make a film like this, the godmen or ritualistic people have been portrayed as villains and liars but here is this guy (Saurabh's character in PK) who is doing business but also believes he is doing good because he is atleast giving some hope to people. This was the toughest cookie for me to portray."
Ask Saurabh if he is a nonbeliever and the actor says, "I am not exactly a non-believer. It is not that I don't believe in God but I definitely am not very impressed with the ritualistic religion or organised religion as they call it."
Recalling the fun moments on sets especially between him and Aamir Khan, Saurabh narrates an interesting story. "Me and Aamir used to play chess almost every day. Chess is Aamir's favourite game and he is brilliant in it. And like in the film, he defeated me in chess as well.”
While PK has opened to rave reviews, Saurabh firmly believes that it is conviction and strong belief of every actor of PK in Raju's concept that will make the film go the distance.
"Anybody and everybody involved in the film regardless of what characters we portrayed we believed that human beings are one. The land or colour or the gods we follow also doesn't make us any different. So we all were on the same page while shooting for the moment."
Feel his godman act will be honoured with awards in the coming year, we ask? "Only god knows," quips Saurabh before signing off with a cheerful laugh.
Add new comment