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A veteran yes, but still eager to learn....

A seasoned actor who has played comic roles as well as subtler shades with aplomb, Anupam Kher believes this is the best of times for aspiring actors, says Mandira Nayar... .

Anupam Kher can't get smaller. Three hundred films old, Kher might be at his tiniest best in "Jaan-e-man" playing a dwarf, but he is all set to become bigger. Flushed with the success of "Kholsa Ka Ghosla'', Kher who has come up the hard way in the larger-than-life world of Hindi movies has made his mark, but he is far from satisfied.

"The most frightening thing now is that people think I am a veteran and touch my feet. But I constantly have to keep reinventing myself. There is no end to the syllabus of acting. I want to keep adding to it every year till I am alive,'' he says.

Constantly trying to raise the bar, Kher is really a man for all seasons. While it is his comic roles that most people think of first, his subtler shades are probably his greatest strength. Starting his career with "Saaransh'' -- a film in which he played an old man -- to his rather recent "Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara'' and even as the failed father in "Daddy'', he has always touched a chord with his audience. And it is this ability of his to make small, real and even ordinary characters stay with audiences long after the film is over, that sets him apart.

"I used to say that "Daddy'' was the toughest character I played, because it is difficult to portray failure with dignity. But Khosla in "Kholsa Ka Ghosla'' is an ordinary man. There is nothing extraordinary in his ordinariness. You need extra-ordinary skill to do that,'' he states.

With plenty of more show left in him, Kher believes that his competition is with himself and he has to outdo his own performance each time. Ask him if the success of "Khosla Ka Ghosla'' has to do with the multiplex revolution that has finally ushered in the time of the smaller films, Kher agrees.

"I don't think there is a bad film that can do well. At the same time, there is not a good film that people won't go to see. I think audiences are much more educated now. They have a better understanding of cinema. `Khosla Ka Ghosla' is a triumph of the common man. Khosla is a real character and represents the middle class in a very realistic way,'' he says.

A different time from when Kher struggled to be an actor years ago in big city Mumbai, actors now have it a little easier. "It is a time for actors. There are more platforms now to show your talent -- modelling schools, educational institutions and talent hunts. It is much easier to get a movie now. But like any field, it is impossible to sustain unless you are good.''

Dealing with Mahatma Gandhi and his message in a more serious way than the current rage "Lage Raho Munnabhai'' in "Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara'' where he plays a tortured follower of Gandhi who believes that he is responsible for the death of his guru, Kher feels that there is much more to the man than just the filmi "Gandhigiri''.

"Apart from films, if you ask me as an individual, I think his philosophy of non-violence can save the world. Violence has become part of the language of the world and non-violence can be a weapon. He has been forgotten, that was what "Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara'' was all about. He represented values and we live in a valueless society,'' he asserts. While his first directorial debut "Om Jai Jagdish'' was a sort of reaffirmation of these values, he found that it was worthless at the box-office. The film failed to make the mark he expected, despite a big star cast of Anil Kapoor, Fardeen Khan, Abhishek Bachchan -- before his luck turned -- and even Waheeda Rehman. But in yet another attempt to reinvent himself, Kher is planning to direct another film soon. "I am working on a script. I am on the seventh draft, but feel that I have to rework it. The shooting is unlikely to begin before March and April,'' he reveals.

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