Anjan Srivastava regrets not getting the National Award, said – Shahrukh used to touch feet after every scene

You are going to celebrate your seventy-fifth anniversary this year. What’s special this time?
To be honest, I am celebrating my 75th birthday with the pleasure of my children (son and two daughters) and at their behest. My son has come from London. She and her daughters made a plan that this anniversary of mine should be grand. I have done so much in my life and career that there must be some commotion. The kids are making a slideshow of selected scenes from all my films, which will also be a surprise for my birthday. On this birthday, I want to meet those people with whom I started working. There are many people like Raghubir Yadav, Ashish Vidyarti, Govind Namdev, Tinu Anand, Rajkumar Santoshi. If Kundan Shah is no more, then his wife Bakul Shah has been invited. However, out of these, Raghubir Yadav is shooting in Bhopal and Govind Namdev in Ayodhya. Ashish Vidyarthi is now married. Now let’s see who will have to meet.

Actor is not valued for character: Anjan Srivastava
If I talk about your acting career, you had taken a bank job in Allahabad on your father’s wish, but what happened then that you came into the acting world?
Balraj Sahni ji impressed me a lot. It was because of him that I joined his theater organization IPTA. Even today I am with IPTA. One thing was clear in my mind that I did not want to be a typical hero. I had worked in a bank for seven-eight years, I applied for a transfer to Mumbai, but things did not work out. I quit my job. I was unemployed for 6 months. Although my father did not want me to leave the job, he gave me a chance after my sister passed away and said that I can try my luck within three months. Although I was from a middle class family, I did not get money from home. Theater supported me a lot during that period. I have come a long way. Very proud to have worked in ‘Damini’. ‘Wagle Ki Duniya’ is a milestone in my career. My plays ‘Kashmakash’ and ‘Shatranj Ke Mohre’ have been appreciated a lot. Even today in IPTA, my drama is played a lot in gestures. My wife Madhu Srivastava has been a great support in my career.

Everyone knows that you established yourself as an actor by adapting RK Laxman’s Common Main into the world of Wagle, how was that era?
Really it was the thinking and creativity of RK Laxman, that he created such a character. I give full credit to him only. He wanted to try himself as a director and I was introduced to him by director Kundan Shah. RK Laxman wanted a spontaneous actor who would play his character realistically. He was one of those directors who were very difficult to please. In the first episode he called my work OK and in the second episode he called it Very Good. After that my tuning got solid with him. They gave me a south made washing machine. By becoming ‘Wagle’ I became famous overnight. When I used to travel in trains and buses as ‘Wagle’, people used to look at me speechless. I had become very popular. Then Om Puri ji told me one day that I should take a car, now it is not right for me to travel by train or bus. It was Om Puri who gave me his second hand car.

‘People will see 90 percent of Atalji’s image in me’
Including your journey in theatre, you have been in the acting world for 54 years, what was the most difficult phase for you?
The most difficult phase of my career was in 2002. It was just around the time of my anniversary. This incident happened on 4 June. Those days I was shooting for a big film like ‘Lajja’ and the play of M S Sathyu written by Javed Siddiqui was going on at night when I got hit on the head in the theatre. I was diagnosed with subdural hematoma (a dangerous disease resulting from head injury). My whole body became inactive. Hrithik Roshan has also passed away from this disease. In this injury, due to injury to the head, the nerves of the brain get suppressed and the brain stops working. I struggled with this disease for 6 months. I had an operation, I’m fine. Then the doctors advised me to do the same play again that night, so that my confidence would come back. In English, the play was titled ‘Death and the Maiden’, in which Ben Kingsley played the role of Mary. I used to be completely bald then. At that time I also worked in an American film ‘Flavour’. After that my new innings started. I worked with makers like Anubhav Sinha, Boney Kapoor and Subhash Ghai.

In your career, you have worked with Amitabh Bachchan to Shah Rukh-Salman-Akshay-Ajay and now Ayushmann Khurrana-Vicky Kaushal, how have you found these three generations of actors?
Bachchan sir is a great actor. People used to say about him that he should do English films. The one who can do a character like Pa, be it Hollywood or Bollywood can deposit his coin everywhere. I have worked with him in films like ‘Bemisaal’, ‘Main Azad Hoon’, ‘Agneepath’, ‘Shahenshah’, ‘Khuda Gawah’. In a scene in ‘Shahenshah’, I had to hold his collar. I was playing the role of a corrupt politician. In the process of holding the collar, his chest hair came in my hand. I told him sorry, but he asked to continue with the scene. Shahrukh has always been crazy about his character. I remember in an episode of ‘Wagle Ki Duniya’ Kundan Shah called Shah Rukh when Avinash Wadhawan did not turn up and then I got a chance to work with him. After doing the scene, he did not forget to ask whether I did the scene right or not? As far as Ayushmann Khurrana is concerned, he is an advanced actor. The way new heroes think at the international level, their approach towards roles is similar. He lives the characters, not just the hero. I did Sanju with Vicky Kaushal and Ranbir Kapoor and found both of them excellent. Ranbir used to touch feet on the sets. He leaves his seat and stands up.

What are the regrets in a long career of five-six decades?
That’s why he didn’t get the National Award. Well you guys have to decide whether I am eligible for this? I won’t get the National Award just because I say it. It has to be seen why should I meet? Actually it is overdue. I was supposed to meet twenty years ago. There was a Marathi play, ‘Vichha Majhi Puri Kara’, which was adapted into Hindi as ‘Saiya Bhaye Kotwal’. I did the English translation of the same. Vaman was Kendra’s play, I was nominated, but Nadira Babbar got the award.