A Rare Kader Khan Interview

Brut India

Veteran actor, writer and director Kader Khan died at the age of 81 at a hospital in Canada. Here are excerpts from his interview with Lehren on how he got his first big break in Bollywood.

Transcript

00:00About 23-24 years ago, a drama of mine became very famous in those days, Local Train.

00:11In which I got the award of Best Writer, Best Actor, Best Director.

00:16And in those days, late Mr. Narendra Bedi came to me backstage and said that

00:24I am making a film, Jawaani Diwaani, in which Randhir Kapoor and Jaya Bachchan are there.

00:32Jaya Bahadur was there at that time.

00:34He said, I want you to write the dialogues of that film.

00:37I said, I don't know how to write the dialogues.

00:40He said, we know how to make you write the dialogues, because you have been a playwright, you write dramas.

00:48The next day he called me to his office, gave me the script in his hand,

00:52and said, this is the scene, you write it.

00:55I went from there, I didn't have any place to write.

00:59I took the train and went to the Marine Drive.

01:02And people were playing football on the cross field, so I sat on the side and started writing the dialogues.

01:06So sometimes the football used to come in between and hit me.

01:09And I used to get hurt by the football and used to write the dialogues.

01:14The work was done in 3 hours, I reached back to Bandra.

01:17So he was shocked to see me, that I gave work to a fool, he has come to ask again.

01:21I asked him, did you ask me to write the dialogues?

01:25He said, yes, I wrote it.

01:28So writing the dialogues in 3 hours, this has never happened before.

01:33So when I recited it to him, and the way he praised me,

01:38he hugged me from his chest.

01:41Giving that praise and hugging him from his chest,

01:44became a way of my life, which has brought me here.

01:47If that day he would have rejected me or not given me a response,

01:52then I would have been exiled from there.

01:55So learn one thing in life, that if any artist does a good work,

02:01then you should react and praise him.

02:05I learned this lesson in life.

02:08And all the good directors I met on the way,

02:11they always praised my work and encouraged me.

02:14If I made a mistake, they used to scold me.

02:17Learning from them, I reached here.

02:20In my childhood, I used to copy others.

02:24I used to see anyone on the way.

02:27If I used to meet a strange person, who had a different way of speaking,

02:31I used to copy him.

02:34Sometimes I used to copy my friends, they used to clap.

02:38So a person is hungry for response.

02:40My mother used to tell me to go and offer prayers.

02:44I used to bunk my prayers.

02:47I used to stand somewhere and act and tell people.

02:50People used to praise me and I used to be very happy.

02:53But when I used to come home, I used to get caught.

02:56If I didn't offer prayers, I used to get beaten.

Category

Transcript

Recommended