Book Review: Lessons Life Taught Me

It’s Kher’s case all the way in this all-revealing and witty autobiography

Since I didn’t go to an English-medium school, I think in Hindi,” Anupam Kher once told Amitabh Bachchan, sharing what he felt was a drawback. “If I have to speak in English, I have to translate my thoughts.” To which Bachchan pointed out, “Imagine, if you thought in English, you would not have been so effective in Hindi movies.”

However, when writing a book in English, you need a certain proficiency in the colonial language. Or your publisher should correct the slip-ups that occur due to thinking in Hindi and writing in English, which Kher’s publisher has not done. So, his autobiography is replete with grammatical and spelling errors that mar an otherwise engrossing narrative of his life. There are factual errors, too. A photo caption identifies Om Puri as Amrish Puri, while it is wrongly stated that work on the film Vijay started in 1977. In the actor’s recounting of his spat with film columnist Devyani Chaubal, he says, “I recall it was 10 April 2015, when I decided to call her at the office. The minute she picked up the phone…” Devyani had been dead for 20 years, so 10 April 2015 was clearly a slip of the key that the editing desk didn’t notice.

If you can ignore the sub-editing goof-ups, Kher’s straight-from-the-heart (and mind) tome on the lessons he learnt from his chequered life is a page-turner. Starting from his childhood in Shimla, where his extended family of 14 lived in one cramped room, Kher shares his kaleidoscopic life honestly and in great detail. From the idiosyncrasies of his father and uncles to his quirky sports teacher who announced, with sadistic pleasure, that Anupam would come second even if he was the sole participant in a race, Anupam describes them all.

But young Anupam’s spirits were never dampened, not even when he was literally thrown off the stage while performing the role of Prithviraj Chauhan. His inherent sense of humour made him see the funny side to everything and he stored each incident in his mind to use them later.

That is how he could, at the peak of his career in Hindi films, when he worked three shifts a day, impart a special mannerism to every character he played. From the tycoon Malhotra who applauds his son for failing in his exam in Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, to the retired, middle-class Khosla of Khosla Ka Ghosla, Kher made each character look convincing because he drew from a vast reservoir of experiences.

Apart from depicting the highs and lows of his personal life that has seen unimagined fame as well as dire poverty and serious health problems, the book gives a fascinating glimpse into how both, the Hindi film industry and Hollywood, work. Kher doesn’t mince words. If he speaks in glowing terms about the warm-hearted, hospitable filmmaker Yash Chopra, he also expresses, in no uncertain terms, his disappointment at his good friend Anil Kapoor throwing him out of his home production Mr. India.

It is interesting to read about his interaction with Sridevi whom he always addressed as ‘Madam’. Another forthright actor, Hema Malini, explained why she ‘made a face’ when fans clicked photographs with her. “They will put up the pictures in their homes. I don’t want them to think Hema Malini is happy to take a picture with them. It is they who are very happy to take a picture with me,” she told Kher in her trademark fashion.

If such incidents gave the outsider from Shimla an insight into the minds of plain-speaking, top heroines of our film industry, Hollywood’s Woody Allen’s sarcastic reaction to Kher’s gushing behaviour made Kher, strangely, ecstatic! Kher had gone to great lengths to buy an expensive ticket to watch the director play the clarinet at a café. After the performance, Kher rushed to him to remind him that he was an actor in his film You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger. “Good for you,” replied Allen without a glance at Kher, and walked away.

Kher’s adventures in Hollywood are as interesting as his struggle in India to become an actor. Once, while shooting for Silver Linings Playbook, Robert De Niro interpreted a scene as he thought fit, and threw Kher out of his house into the bitter cold. Kher, who was playing a Dr Patel, felt terribly humiliated with this interpretation of a scene where he was supposed to tell Niro off. Throwing caution to the winds, he put his foot down and argued that his interpretation of Dr Patel’s role was also important and that is how the scene should unfold. After giving the matter some thought, Niro agreed.

Currently, the multi-faceted actor is stationed in the US, having signed a three-year contract for New Amsterdam. From the snow-clad mountains of Shimla to a high-rise apartment in New York, Anupam Kher has come a long way, but has that long way been in the right direction? What is it about western shores that make even an actor, as renowned and loved in India as Anupam Kher, give it all up and start all over again in an alien land? The book doesn’t quite give you the answer to that, but as a moral science treatise, it does teach you a lot of lessons.