A FILMY BREAK FOR BABBAR

After the end of campaigning for the Lok Sabha polls, Congress candidate from the Ghaziabad Lok Sabha constituency and veteran Bollywood actor Raj Babbar (right) has returned to the shooting of his upcoming film in Pune.

In the film, he plays an honest police officer — a reason why he agreed to the role in the first place. In fact, Raj Babbar is using the break between the end of the election campaign and poll results (May 16) to shoot his pending portion for of the film. “I want to stress on the fact that the cop I play, is an honest cop. It’s very essential to show India’s politics and bureaucracy in a favourable light. Not all politicians and civil servants are as corrupt as they’re shown in our films. It’s a two-day shoot. Then I return to Ghaziabad for the election results,” said Babbar.

Apparently, the prolific actor who has played villainous parts in many films in the past, including his notorious career-making role in Insaaf Ka Tarazu (1980), is done with playing negative characters in films.

Raj Babbar, actor-politician

“In my 35-year film career, I’ve played it all, the good, bad and the ugly. I have no craving to be in films just for the heck of it. There has to be a good reason for me to do a film. My constituency keeps me busy otherwise,” he said.

He finds key changes in movie-making now. “Filmmaking has become a very time consuming process now. Earlier, everyone did their work and left. Now during shooting, everyone crowds around the monitor to mull over every shot. That’s a great way to work. But it doesn’t suit my schedule,” he said.