Father went into depression after retirement
According to Anupam Kher, ‘When the film’s writer-director Akshay Roy came up with this story, I felt as if I was reading the script of my own life. There is a dialogue of Vijay in the film that dreams have no expiry date, I thought this is my philosophy. I really believe in it. After all, our dreams are what make us. Our society is such that it is believed that one should stop dreaming after a certain age. Most of all our family members make us feel that now that you are retired, you should do this, you should not do this. This is the curse of retirement that no matter how fit you are, you are retired at the age of 58. However, that is also necessary, otherwise how will the new generation get a job, but the retiree suddenly has nothing to do. My father suffered from depression for 3 years after his/her retirement. he/she neither had anything to do, nor anywhere to go, he/she kept asking only one thing – what else is happening, what else is happening. Whereas, I think that a middle class man’s life starts only after 55, 60 years, when he/she thinks about himself. Before that, he/she is busy teaching the children and settling them. Then he/she thinks what did I do, because of which people will remember me. So, I was very happy to do this film.
I leave experiences at home
How has Anupam Kher, who has traveled a long journey of 4 decades in Bollywood, kept himself relevant with the changing times of cinema all these years? When asked about this, he/she says, ‘I do every film with the same enthusiasm as my first film. I feel new every time. But how can he/she feel like a new artiste after having the experience of so many films in India and abroad? On this he/she says, ‘Absolutely can. If you don’t carry the burden of those experiences on your shoulders, it doesn’t get suppressed. I leave all my past experiences at home before going to the set. Of course all those experiences have enriched me. Has made me mentally and internally rich, but I want to learn new things every day. Life is a bottomless ocean, no matter how much water you take out of it, a lot of water will still remain.
Some relationships are like the pause button on a tape recorder.
Anupam also praised his/her young co-star Mihir Ahuja and old partner Chunky Pandey in the film for their passion for learning. he/she says, ‘I also learn from my younger generation. Today’s actors have a lot of discipline. They come fully prepared. They also have immense respect for others. Even though he/she doesn’t show it, because he/she doesn’t flirt, you feel it. At the same time, it was a lot of fun working with Chunky after many years. Some relationships are like the pause button of a tape recorder, even after many years, the stories of meetings and memories start from the same place where they were left. We have spent a lot of time together before. Have done many films together. I miss the fact that the kind of relationships that were formed then cannot be formed now. Then we used to sit together under the tree. Now vanity vans have arrived. However, I demand to eat food with everyone on my set. Even during this film, we all used to eat food together.
Learned to swim at the age of 68 for the film
In the film, Vijay goes on an adventure like triathlon at the age of 69, ‘On whether Anupam aspires to do any such adventure, he/she says, I learned swimming at the age of 68 for this film. I didn’t know how to swim, so I learned it. At the same time, I acted with a broken shoulder. The most beautiful thing about our profession is that we get to learn new things. We went to the base camp during the shooting of the film Utthi. By the way, I want to do para jumping or paragliding once. That excites me a lot, but I’m very scared of heights, so let’s see when I can do it.
