by Subhash K Jha
"Help!' mock-moans Madhavan. "If all the big-shot directors of the country turn to acting what will we
do?"
He has a point. First it was only Subhash Ghai who dug the idea of doing flash-appearances in his
films. We couldn't blame him. Ghai had come into the industry with the express purpose of being an
actor.
But what makes some of our top-notch directors face the camera? Farhan Akhtar, Karan Johar,
Shaad Ali and Ashutosh Gowariker have all proved themselves closet-actors.
And pretty competent ones at that. Farhan Akhtar has completed an entire film called The Fakir
directed by Anand Surapur. He's quite kicked by the idea of playing hero. " I'm playing the lead. I'm
enjoying the experience. My director seems to like my acting. Either he's a good liar or a good friend.
They want to premiere the film at the Venice Film Festival."
After The Fakir , Farhan is expected to do a major role in Rituparno Ghosh's film with Amitabh
Bachchan and Shabana Azmi. "But I'm still waiting for Ritu to confirm. He better do so real soon. I'm
shortly going to be a very busy actor."
Karan Johar too is looking at an alternative career. "Not quite, " he chuckles. "A cameo in Home
Delivery doesn't quite amount to an alternative career. Director Sujoy Ghosh was persuasive. I
couldn't say no to him. I thoroughly enjoyed my stint as an actor.
"If you remember I played
one of Shah Rukh's friends along with Arjun Sablok in Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge. Now we know
why the film was an all-time hit," Karan jokes, then adds, "I had started as a child star on tv in Anand
Mahendroo's Indradhanush."
Arjun Sablok and Shaad Ali are two other filmmakers to have done cameo roles . While Sablok made
an appearance in " Dilwale Dulhaniya... and Dhoom, Shaad Ali was seen as a Sufi mendicant in the
title song of his own Bunty Aur Babli.
"Sometimes you just don't have a choice," says director Hansal Mehta who has done acting roles on
television.
"For example Guru Dutt was forced to step into the male lead in Pyaasa when
Dilip Kumar backed out at the eleventh hour. I'm not saying any of us is Guru Dutt. But hey, we're
getting there."
Tuesday, January 31, 2006 13:42 IST