Sanjay Suri remembers making his debut two decades ago
Words: Deepali Singh
In 1999, a fresh-faced Sanjay Suri managed to capture cine-goers’ hearts with his endearing performance in his debut film Pyar Mein Kabhi Kabhi. His two decades in the industry have resulted in many nuanced performances, in movies such as Daman: A Victim of Marital Violence, Jhankaar Beats, Pinjar, My Brother… Nikhil, Firaaq, and I Am among others. He has not only been acting in movies and web shows but has also produced a couple of films. The actor, who has been consistently delivering the goods, takes a walk down memory lane with TMM…
It’s been 20 years since Pyaar Mein Kabhi Kabhi. How do you look back upon it?
I hardly look back. I don’t even look too much into the future. I’m very much a here and now guy. But that said, it’s been an enriching journey, considering while growing up, I had no clue I’m going to land up here. I say enriching because there were zero expectations. I had nothing except myself to offer and I was very warmly welcomed, initially by the advertising industry and then later by TV and films. I did a few performance-based ads and realized I could do this. I had found my passion.
Did you have to struggle a lot in the initial days?
Within a week of coming to Mumbai, I must have visited close to 100 production offices! I did get meetings because my face was known. Some were very funny. I would visit an office and be told ‘sir andar meeting mein hain’, only to be told two hours later, ‘sir andar nahin hain!’ I would wonder if their offices had back doors that they have sneaked out of! (laughs) It was also an expensive affair as we had to submit hard copies of photographs. My rucksack would be heavy with 20 sets of 15 images. Another problem was that I was still staying in Delhi at that time and some people told me I won’t get work if I tell them I don’t stay in Mumbai. So I bought a pager. Anytime I would get a page for an audition, I would call them and say I will be there for it. Then I would catch the Rajdhani train in the evening from Delhi, reach Mumbai by morning, and rush to Famous Studios for the audition. There are times I have even shaved at the studio as the train would be too shaky to do that! (laughs) Those were fun times, I have no complaints at all.
Sanjay Suri, Tell us a bit about your first movie experience.
I wasn’t expecting a big launch. It was Rinke Khanna and Dino Morea in the lead along with a bunch of us. The romantic triangle and the friendships appealed to me. Everyone was a newcomer in the film and we had a lot of fun. I made some lifelong friends. Fortunately, the role worked for me and I got a lot of calls and offers to post that. Then whatever came along, I chose what appealed to me. There was no strategy or game.
Sanjay Suri, Which films and roles have been special for you?
My Brother… Nikhil. Even performance-wise, I had more to give and dive deep into. I also enjoyed a small role in a film called Dhoop which was on the Kargil war. My choices are the story, director, and role, in that order. First-time filmmakers put a lot of heart in their debut projects and I’m lucky I got to be a part of many such ventures, including Dr. Chandraparakash Dwivedi’s Pinjar, Meghna Gulzar’s Filhaal, and Nandita Das’ Firaaq among many others. The second film might be a combination of a heart and mind but the first is a lot of heart. I guess I’m a love at first sight kind of guy! (laughs)
Sanjay Suri, You don’t look too far ahead, so what’s the plan for the next one year?
I hope I’m able to produce another film by mid next year. As far as web series go, I have developed some, so will probably start pitching those. I’m looking at doing more films as an actor as well as an actor-producer.
The post Shades of Sanjay Suri appeared first on TMM.