‘Hindi cinema in the ’70s was absolutely bonkers; we were lucky that viewers made us stars’
Dashing, poised, and full of vigour, Danny Denzongpa amazes you with his love and in-depth knowledge of Indian cinema. In a career spanning more than four-anda-half decades, he played several villainous parts, and made the bad look good. His most memorable roles include that of the gang lord Kancha Cheena in Agneepath (1990). In recent years, he has acted in Robot (2010), Baby (2015) and Naam Shabana (2017).
Now, Danny plays the titular role in an upcoming film, which is an adaptation of Rabindranath Tagore’s story Kabuliwala, and the trailer has received huge praise. In a freewheeling interview, the 70year-old actor talks about the role, and cinema then and now.
Despite continuously working, people say you’re making a comeback. How do you feel?
Yes, I haven’t given any interviews in the past six years, but there’s nothing like a comeback. I’ve done very few films because I wanted the right scripts; otherwise, whatever fans I have, I will lose them also (laughs).
You play a young man and an old man in this new film. Was it a challenge to change looks?
It was actually fun. The unit [members] are half my age and from FTII (Pune) mostly — they are all my juniors and colleagues. So, it was like a picnic. Also, Kabuliwala (1961) is one of my favourite films, starring (the late) Balraj Sahniji. I was in school when I saw it and cried a lot.
After Robot, you read about 40 scripts, but didn’t like any. Why? I’ve been working for 46 years now, and very often, these new filmmakers get stuck with the image. They want me to play a role similar to what I’ve done already. That’s monotonous, and I get so fed up. So, I want something different.
How tough or easy it was to position yourself when you started off in the early 1970s?
It was difficult. That time, people were mostly making family films and I didn’t fit in. I could play either the servant or a waiter in a Chinese restaurant or a gatekeeper. But luckily, I got a break with Gulzarji in his first directorial film, Mere Apne (1971) — it had students from all over the country, and he gave me a small part. The movie did well and that’s how I was accepted as the guy who could act.
You made a villain look good. Do you feel that modernday baddies (actors) are doing equally well? An actor from a different generation can interpret the same plot in a different way. I think, young actors are doing very well. The only thing is that the kind of villains we had in our times, they were very prominent parts after the hero. People don’t create that kind of characters anymore.
However, I feel that the ’70s and ’80s were the worst time for the Hindi film industry, when we were in the movies, right at the top. We were doing WWF kind of movies (with almost unreal fight sequences, as one sees in show wrestling). Strangely, they did very well with the audience; maybe they wanted that kind of potboilers.
Why was it the worst phase? Suddenly, action films came to the forefront and it was mainly influenced by the West. Even the story and screenplay were so conventional, so loud. I feel the best time was in the ’50s and early ’60s, when beautiful films like Do Aankhen Barah Haath (1957), Bandini (1963), Jagte Raho (1956), Do Bigha Zamin (1953), and Kabuliwala were made. During the late ’60s, enemy-oriented films were made in South India, and that became successful, or we had typical saas-bahu type of films — quite melodramatic.
When we came to our times, the ’70s, it was absolutely bonkers. Koi achhi picture banayi hi nahi humne. Those few people, who tried to make good films, they just couldn’t compete with the potboilers. We were lucky that the audiences accepted us and made us into stars.
Are things better now? Technically, so much has changed. You don’t need those lights and reflectors where actors can’t open their eyes (because of the glare). Once I was shooting and there was a back light behind me. By the time I finished my lines, my hair was burning. Now, it’s easier. Everything is digital.
And the quality of cinema? Nothing works unless you’ve been accepted by the audience. People today accept films that are different. That’s why smaller and beautiful films are being made and are doing so well. Screenplay, storytelling has become better. Actors are natural. So, there’s a lot of improvement.