Rajesh Kumar aka Roshesh: Sarabhai Vs Sarabhai is the Sholay of my life

Rajesh Kumar Picture Courtesy: YouTube

Actor Rajesh Kumar has been a part of many television shows and was also seen in last year's Bollywood biggie, Student Of The Year 2. However, it's his unforgettable role as Roshesh in Sarabhai Vs Sarabhai that remains the most popular and memorable. His bumbling and childlike demeanour and fascination for acting and particularly poetry made him stand out in a rather intimidating ensemble of seasoned and revered actors.

And talking to mid-day.com recently, he spoke about how this character is still alive in people's minds, how his other performances get overshadowed and also shed some light on his upcoming show, Bhalla Calling Bhalla. Watch the full interview:

The first question was expectedly about being recognised as Roshesh. And has he had enough? This is what he had to say, "No, there's nothing to be enough. For any actor, any amount of appreciation is never enough and that too if people remember the character even after 16 years. This is the Sholay of my life, which will be passed on from generation to generation. Some work will be remembered not only during life but afterlife also."

And then came a very crucial question for the actor- Do you ever feel the audience should look at you beyond your role also, to accept all the other roles you did? He laughed before he answered and said, "The best part about the kind of roles I have done is that people have accepted them when I have played them. The one role that has instant recall value is Roshesh and that will remain, always. There's nothing to feel bad about it."

He added, "Yes, the one issue that does happen is that it overshadows all the other characters but that's fine and that's how things are supposed to be. Like we are doing an interview for Bhalla Calling Bhalla but we are still talking about Roshesh so this is how it overshadows." So whose idea was Bhalla Calling Bhalla? "There's a full creative team that is involved, so there were 3-4 of them that approached me to play this."

He added, "Shooting is the biggest challenge right now. Once this was discussed, I didn't understand how this would be done and then realised it could be done on Zoom with all our laptops in front of us. But I never knew this concept will involve the whole family where you ask your kids to do the setting, your wife to do the camera, and then you're acting and seeing the lighting yourself and the setting yourself. So there was a certain hitch about whether this will happen or won't happen."

He continued, "But thankfully, with the way the script was written and the way it was directed, it became so easy at the end of the day. It never felt we were shooting for a series. And when you watch it, you won't feel we have shot it with an android. You won't understand any light or sound problem. So going with the age and technology, the concept, when it was pitched, half of the battle was won and we need to appreciate that. The biggest advantage is that concepts like this can be used for all the actors who are sitting at home."

What is it about Kumar that he's always drawn towards comedic roles and characters? Is it because people think he can pull off a comic role really well? He laughed again and said, "I think that is one of the reasons, secondly, what I feel about comedy is that everyone can sing in their bathrooms but not too many people can sing classical songs. Comedy is more about classical. If you want to prove yourself in comedy, you have to be a trained actor. So somewhere I feel I have proved to the people that I can do comedy. So this is why they give me so much opportunity and all."

What did he enjoy the most shooting at home? "Those scenes where I get drunk and all and there was a very thin line because it is a very tough scene to perform. The scenes of Dilip Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan from Sharaabi are embedded in our heads that it's very difficult for you to perform uniquely. So that was the challenge. I was very nervous since it was a two-page monologue and it took me two days to prepare for this scene."

He added, "I am talking to myself in the sense that the way I'm talking to you via my phone. I'm talking to my wife where I'm accusing her that it has been 25 years since our marriage and you've really irritated me a lot. But I was not supposed to sound like a drunk, and yet I was out. Sometimes when you speak, people in their drunken conditions don't remember the next day what happened. A lot of people remember the time but nothing more. So performing at that stage when you're understanding everything but you don't know what you're talking, that was the challenging bit"

Did he actually have to drink for that scene? He said, "No, I shot at 10:30 or 11 in the morning and luckily it was done in one shot, I didn't give any retake. So your confidence gets a boost that you did good work even in lockdown. Secondly, we are yet to shoot some portions so we all are stressed out. And the thing is that there's nobody to guide you during this time so you have to make all the judgements on your own since there's no one whose correcting you."

Did it ever happen that after shooting an entire scene, the director wasn't really happy and asked the team to reshoot it? "Till now, nothing sort of that has happened. But when you miss some shots, you get to know about it 2-3 days later and then you have to find what clothes you were wearing. And if you've given those clothes for washing, that whole day is wasted. I've come to know that the people who are involved in the shoot make things very easy for you. During this time, you have to remember what clothes you were wearing. These are the times of being over-alert."

Apart from Bhalla Calling Bhalla, what were the other challenging roles for him as an actor? He said, "Mr Sharma was challenging, Mrs. & Mrs Sharma Allahabadwale. In Neeli Chatri Waale, there was a character of Bhagwan Das where I had replaced Yashpal Sharma, that was challenging. For 52 episodes, Bhagwan Das was someone else and suddenly you were replacing someone, that became the biggest challenge. Mimicking is also a big challenge where we have to change our characters."

So does he mimic people often? This is what he says, "No, I'm very bad at mimicking. I've tried to make that character my own. Like in Akbar Birbal, I really liked the Akbar character. It was Prithviraj Kapoor's voice but I made that character my own. Otherwise, if someone asks me to mimic someone, it's very difficult."

Apart from shooting for Bhalla Calling Bhalla, what else has he be doing during this lockdown? He says, "So much of cooking. In the last 60 days, apart from Roti and Daal, none of the things have been repeated in the house. Even if we cook the vegetables again, the permutations and combinations, and style of cooking are different. From Rajma to Chole to Pizza to Pasta to Burger to Kebab, we have made everything."

He added, "If we were donkeys, we would have only one job- To lift weights. Being a human, you have to multitask. Not only maids but even housewives, if you see our Hindu Mythology, goddesses like Durga or Kaali, their sculptures have ten hands. That's the way our housewives are, they all are Durga, they all are Kaali because they can multitask. But this lockdown has taught me that males can also multitask. They should multitask. Just because you are going to office and earning money doesn't mean your responsibilities end."

Has Kumar's children seen his serials or have they been watching them of late? Look what he has to say, "The elder one finished all the 70 episodes of Sarabhai in this lockdown. The younger one has finished Maharaj Ki Jai Ho that came on Star Plus." Do they ever critique his work or say any funny things about it? "No no, they like it, in fact when the serials don't have my scenes, the younger one moves away. He only comes during my scenes."

Coming back to the cult of Sarabhai Vs Sarabhai, he said, "While travelling, my children know their papa is known for a character called Roshesh. The elder one loved it. He was binge-watching it. The younger one is still evolving, he's only eight so it's too early for him to understand Sarabhai. But he loves Roshesh and he himself mimics the character. I'm proud of them."

When tv serials or films don't work out, it can be disheartening for any actor. How does he take success and failure? He says, "When someone praises me by saying, 'Good Work, Great Job', I feel embarrassed, I don't know how to react. In fact, our producer Nitin was telling me, "Sir you are not taking any compliments." I feel certain kind of palpitation, I feel very uncomfortable. The moment someone says that I was not good and they didn't enjoy it that much, I am all ears."

Does he take criticism as a step to do better? "It doesn't affect me. For instance, we shot for a year for Maharaj Ki Jai Ho. A mythological comedy with so much of work but it just came and went, nobody noticed also. If Maharaj didn't work, Bhalla did."

A lot of films are directly being streamed on the OTT platform. Does he see this as a pro or a con for the industry? "See if they are fetching money and they do make some profits by break-even, everyone's money is secured. For me, the OTT platform, if gazed with the prism of the COVID-19 crisis, is perfect, because you're not missing anything. And for the entertainment industry, it's very difficult to shoot something," he says.

He adds, "It's difficult to release what has already been shot before so there's no other option apart from the OTT platform. A lot of money is at stake, so if the producers are making money, a lot of people can get their money back too. There are a lot of pros than cons. As far as the cons are concerned, the grandeur of a film that one experiences on a 75-mm screen is reduced to a 36- 40-inch television set."

Does he feel confident enough to go out and shoot? "No, not at all," he says. He adds, "I don't think for another month and two I'll be confident enough because how come a channel person or a producer can decide how good my immunity is. If I get affected, there will be so many people that will get affected." Before the interview ends, he asks all of us to watch Bhalla Calling Bhalla in the style of Roshesh, thereby confirming again this is one role he and we will never forget!

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