Tusshar Kapoor seeks inspiration from Shabana Azmi, loses his voice

By Subhash K. Jha -

November 5, 2010 - 11:43 AM IST

After Priyanka Chopra in Saat Khoon Maaf, it is now Tusshar Kapoor's turn to scream and rant so hard for a dramatic sequence that his voice is all but lost. Playing mute in Golmaal is no more a laughing matter for Tusshar Kapoor. In the third part of the Golmaal series, Tusshar has been given a 6-minute long dramatic sequence where he has to express rage, indignance, bitterness angst and pathos all within the same given space.

Tusshar Kapoor seeks inspiration from Shabana Azmi, loses his voice

Tusshar Kapoor's reference for the sequence was, ahem ahem, Shabana Azmi's celebrated outburst sequence in Ankur where her mute character hurled stones at the zamindar's house in protest for all the injustice and humiliation heaped on her. This was the sequence in Ankur about which the mighty Satyajit Ray had said, it established Shabana as the finest dramatic actress of our times. As a mute character, Tusshar's ready reference-point was Shabana's mute character in Ankur.

Barely able to talk the actor says, "Shabana is an actor I great admire. And of course a complete institute of acting. In fact, coincidentally, I am doing film entitled Hum Tum Aur Shabana. Doing the dramatic sequence for Golmaal was very tough because the mood is comic. I had to suddenly swerve into the serious mode. When my director Rohit Shetty told me about it I chickened out."

Repeated viewing of Shabana's mute indignance gave Tusshar the confidence to carry it off. "It took me three days to do the scene and Rohit had to break it up into two parts before shooting it. But I managed it. I am very proud of that sequence. Even though I have almost lost my voice in trying to convey my mute character's anguish through primeval sounds .But it's okay there's a sense of fulfillment I've never felt before."

Tusshar is slowly inching towards a more meaningful kind of cinema. His sister Ekta Kapoor's production Shor stars Tusshar in one of three offbeat stories that comprise the film.

Says Tusshar, "I wouldn't call it experimental. But yes, Shor is a very different kind of film. I star in one of the three stories. We're taking the film to the Pusan and New York film festivals before releasing it commercially."

That Tusshar is inching towards a different kind of cinema is proven by the fact that he has just said no Priyadarshan's thriller Tezz.

Protests Tusshar, "I had no choice. I didn't have the dates. I am shooting for the Rajshri's film Love U...Mr. Kalaakar with Amrita Rao. It's not the typical Sooraj Barjatya film about the joint family. It's a very contemporary yet traditional film. I couldn't let this film down for Priyan's film. My father successfully juggled dates all his career. I must learn how to do this."