New Delhi   

Veteran of the entertainment world

Madhur Tankha

ARTISTE PAR EXCELLENCE: Film and theatre artiste Rakesh Bedi in New Delhi. Photo: Rajeev Bhatt

New Delhi: The acting bug caught him at an early age. No wonder then that Rakesh Bedi never thought of becoming anything else in life other than an actor during his growing-up days.

In the Capital to stage the play "Massage", Rakesh says as a budding actor he drew inspiration from a number of reel life heroes. "I have looked upon Charlie Chaplin with reverence. Lots of Bollywood actors like Mehmood and Johnny Walker also impressed me. I liked them in some films, in others I didn't. But I always loved Chaplin."

Remembering his days of struggle in Delhi, Rakesh says: "Those were very hard days as we printed posters and pasted them in markets at night. Once or twice we even got caught and ended up spending a few hours at the police station. We finally succeeded in convincing the cops that we were only theatre artistes. Even for getting brochures printed, we had to plead with people to give us advertisements."

Expressing satisfaction that Delhiites have finally woken up to the call of theatre, Rakesh says, "Frankly speaking, the joy you get while performing before a live audience is unparalleled. You get bricks or bouquets depending on your skills. The reaction you generate is like an electric current between you and the audience."

Sharing his off and on screen chemistry with Bollywood star Salman Khan in the upcoming film "Marigold", Rakesh says: "Salman has more respect for me than I have for him. I played the part of a filmmaker who doesn't want the film to get over, as then he would be out of job. Salman plays a choreographer who develops a soft corner for a foreign girl who has been traumatised by some incident."

Describing his 1974-76 batch of Film and Television Institute of India in Pune as the most illustrious one, Rakesh says the who's who of the Hindi film industry like Naseeruddin Shah, Satish Shah, Suresh Oberoi, David Dhawan and Kundan Shah were his batch mates. "Not all of us were in the same class. While David Dhawan was learning editing, I was honing my skills in acting. Roshan Taneja was our teacher. I feel teachers can only guide you, but acting comes from something within. At times, you have to prepare, rehearse and memorise 10 pages in just five minutes."

One of his favourite films is, of course, the memorable "Chashme Buddoor". "The film starred Farooq Shaikh. I think Sai Paranjpye wrote one of the finest comedy scripts in the history of Hindi films. I also had a memorable time acting in the serial `Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi' that was directed by Kundan Shah. Even now I come across people abroad who have kept the video as a collector's item."

Lamenting the decline of theatre, Rakesh says the basic reason for this is the lack of good writers.

"Also, a majority of our present plays are translated or adapted from other masterpieces," he adds.

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