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Television is like the day’s newspaper, you don’t want it the next day.

Photo R.V. Moorthy

All in One Shekhar Suman hopes to fulfil his dream of singing to an audience.

He says to date his biggest success is “Utsav” (1985). It is clear that here is an actor who extols film and pooh-poohs television; even though television has proved a kinder host to him. “Utsav” might have been made more than 20 years ago, but Suman still celebrates it for its “magnanimity and magnitude”. Directed by Girish Karnad and with Rekha as leading lady, it is “poetry on celluloid,” he believes.

He is currently working on two movies, “One Fine Monday” and “Dhaan”. Seventy per cent of the first movie is complete. A black comedy, it revolves around a don who tries to redeem his ways to fulfil his father’s last wishes. Based on farmers’ suicides, in Maharashtra, it is the story of a Buddha in a contemporary age.

While he might have a predilection for films he has worked all the time on television. His most recent enterprise is “Jjhoom India”. Partnering Sanjeevani, he now tries his skill at singing. Earlier this year, Suman released his debut music album, “Kuch Khwaab Aise” to a lukewarm response. While not a singer he has always envied the talent. “I have always suffered from the innate desire to be a singer, if not an actor. There is so much happiness in singing. You connect with the audience and the spiritual world.”

Suman has previously expressed himself through humour and comedy. As a judge on the “Great Indian Laughter Challenge”, he had to whet his funny bone himself. Citing the example of Akshay Kumar, Amitabh Bachchan and even Sanjeev Kumar, he says, “Only once you have done comedy, can you call yourself a competent actor.” The challenge of comedy is to step outside the script and to engage with the audience, he explains.

He first played judge. Now he plays a participant on a reality show. “Reality shows are the order of the day,” he feels, because, “there is a connect and a disconnect. People identify with reality shows. They are aspirational after all.” Prone to philosophising, Suman explains, “That I am a judge or a participant is an illusion. I am just an actor. I am simply playing the role.”

But of late Suman has taken on a new form. It is a hunk look with a recently unveiled six-pack abs. Suman laughs hard when asked about all the attention on his physique. “Everyone wants to know how I achieved it! I felt I needed to change myself. For me it has been a process of being reborn.” Working out four hours a day, he exudes, “In three months, I was getting these packs. It was brilliant.”

With a body in shape, Suman is also busy with his other ventures. He hopes that a theatre repertory company Silhouette will take off soon. Also on the table is Seven Thirty Entertainment and a joint venture with UTV called Windmill Entertainment, which will make software for television and produce four to five movies a year.

Outside entertainment, Suman also hopes to build a paediatric cardiology hospital in Patna, in memory of his son whom he lost to a heart ailment.

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