It’s one life, so I want to do everything: Saurabh Shukla

Having dabbled in acting, writing and directing in his long career, veteran artiste Saurabh Shukla is not yet ready to be tied down to any particular genre and is constantly exploring new opportunities

Having dabbled in acting, writing and directing in his long career, veteran artiste Saurabh Shukla is not yet ready to be tied down to any particular genre and is constantly exploring new opportunities.

Actor Saurabh Shukla on his visit to Lucknow. After his shoot he took out time to play few matches at Pacific Table Tennis Centre. (HT Photo)

“It’s one life, so I am not going to settle down for one! I want to do everything and not restrict myself to just acting, writing, directing, doing theatre or playing table tennis. So, whatever I want to do in life I try to do…,” says the National Award winning actor who is in Lucknow for the shoot of OTT series Bindiya.

He adds, “I try to compartmentalise things and concentrate on things that are going on and are in hand. Jis wakt jo cheez aap sehej tarah se kar paa rahe hai wo kariye…as simple! We all try to balance out things as per our capacity but will that happen or not it’s in our hand and only time will tell.”

Shukla has recently directed a film that was shot in Uttarakhand. “Since the film has not been announced yet so I can’t talk about it. There is another script that is ready and has been committed which I will be again directing hopefully soon.” He has previously directed Raat Gai Baat Gai (2009), Pappu Can’t Dance Sala (2011) and I M 24 (2012).

After second wave, he shot for Siddharth Sen Gupta’s series Yeh Kaali Kaali Akhen and series Fear. “In between I directed a film and two of my big films Karan Malhotra’s Shamshera and Milan Luthria’s Tadap — both hopefuls will get theatrical release,” he says.

The Raid actor is of the view that some films are made for theatrical experience and should be viewed on big screen only.

“What we call quintessential Bollywood cinema has its own idiom with panache, songs, fanfare and collective cinematic experience in theatre. On the other hand on OTT it’s more about realism and edgy content touching things and issue that cinema skipped (to avoid controversies and censor). However, it’s very close to cinema but far from TV viewing,” says the actor.

Shukla admits that pandemic troubled him a lot but could not slow him down.

“In the first lockdown, initially I was also just on my own but then started getting edgy. So, with the help of my cinematographer friends learnt operating the cameras that I had bought but never operated. With trial and error, I started shooting myself, sans script, and after hours, days, weeks and months of shooting I made a 90-minute film which I wrote, directed, acted and even edited myself,” says Shukla.

The film has been titled Satyaprakash Param Covid and he will be sending it to film festivals.

“Let’s see where it leads to. For me it was everyday excitement and personal leaning experience. So, I will like to conclude that nothing slows you down…it’s only you who can slows yourself,” says the actor.