Anupam Kher spreads smiles amid lockdown, says ‘Through my video, I wanted to focus on how Irrfan and Rishi Kapoor made so many people happy’

Actor Anupam Kher says he came up with a series When Bittu Meets Anupam to challenge himself as an actor and as a person.

Actor Anupam Kher is perhaps among the busiest Bollywood actors today, despite the lockdown and no shoots allowed. How, you ask? Well, he has come up with a new series, When Bittu Meets Anupam, a one-of-its-kind short skit that has Kher in double roles, as the name suggests. 

Actor Anupam Kher has come up with an interesting series online amid the lockdown.

A couple of episodes are out already, and have garnered a good response. We ask the 65-year-old what prompted him to start this series. He reveals, “The lockdown! I didn’t want it to define me, so I said let me do something creative which will take me time, challenge me as an actor and a person. Philosophy of life needed to be said in a different manner. Then I got an idea, that there is always somebody in you, an alter go. As we grow, we try to suppress that person who helped us become who we are today. I have always kept that small-town boy alive in me, he’s kept a check.”

In the videos, the veteran actor plays the role of both these characters, who have a chat with each other. For instance, one reveals how as we grow up, we tend to forget the little joys of life.

Kher says he learnt how to shoot it by searching on the internet, and is helped by a friend. He shoots the respective portions in one go. “I take five-six hours to rehearse and execute it. Also, I formulate the entire thing in my mind, and then I keep on rehearsing,” he adds.

TRIBUTE TO IRRFAN AND RISHI KAPOOR 

Kher shared another part under his series, dedicated to late actors Irrfan and Rishi Kapoor, who passed away lat week after battling cancer.

“I don’t want to call myself a celeb. At this time, you have to be a responsible citizen of the country, and inspire people. You have to make people look and say I am going through the same thing, but we have to be together. Death is something which shook me. One day before Irrfan, my yoga teacher’s husband died, who had also been my class fellow once. And then Irrfan and Rishi. I was shaken. When somebody passes away, you suddenly realise the futility of life and success. Both of us, (me and Rishi) were very fond of talking. So for hours, I was really shaken. I thought I must do something on this. Then I remembered what happened when my father had passed away in 2012... we celebrated his life,” Kher tells us.

That is why he decided to focus on the fact how both Irrfan and Rishi “made so many people happy”. Emphasising on how they touched lives, Kher adds, “I have been a strong believer in optimism, that’s the only way to live. It was difficult making this one, because it was very sensitive. I wanted to do it not after 10 days, but immediately. We couldn’t go (to visit the family) because of the situation. When people go and meet the family, they give them strength, but even that couldn’t happen. You never know what role their performances and films have played in millions of lives, helped people cope with romance, families and issues. Film waalon ko aise hi bolte hain ‘yeh toh film waale hain’, but film waalon ne desh ko jod kar rakha hai apne tareeke se.”

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