/>
Fiddler On The Roof legend Topol loves Raj Kapoor. And when Topol met Anupam Kher in Israel this week he bombarded
Kher with his questions on RK and yes, Amitabh Bachchan.
There were two international cine-persons that Anupam Kher wanted to meet or work with.
"And by some quirk of faith I managed to work with Woody Allen and meet Topol within one year, " says the satiated actor
Anupam, just back in Mumbai after an exciting visit to Israel attending the international film festival where his film A
Wednesday was screened.
"A Wednesday was the opening film on 6 Deccember.It made a hide inpact. The Israelis totally empathized with the theme
of terrorism. And that's where I met Topol, the Israeli super-actor from Fiddler On The Roof and Galileo. He was a
delight.We spent a good four hours discussing world cinema and Bollywood."
Anupam was delighted to know that Topol was a very close friend of the late and great Raj Kapoor. "They were very close
friends.They met on several occasions and Topol saw a lot of himself in Raj Saab. Topol also knew about Mr Amitabh
Bachchan and asked quite a few questions about him."
As far as Anupam's work is concerned Topol had seen Gurinder Chadha's Bend It Like Beckham. "We actually had
something very unique in common. We both played old men in our most celebrated works when we were very young. I did
Saraansh when I was just 28. And Topol was 36 when he did Fiddler On The Roof."
More unique occurrences in Isreal. Anupam met the celebrated comic actress Hannah Lazslo who had won the best
actress award at Cannes in 2005 for Free Zone.
"We didn't know one another's work at all. But to our surprise we discovered we had both been doing a one-character
autobiographical play for years. Her play Life Of Lazslo has had numerous shows all over the world. Luckily so has my one
-actor play Kuch Bhi Ho Sakta Hai. We promised to watch each other's play in the near future."
Anupam was also in Isreal for the 6-D film India In Motion in which he's the narrator. "It will soon be screen at international
airports in India and two shopping malls in Delhi, "says Anupam happily.
Monday, December 14, 2009 12:25 IST