In Conversation with Tope and Bhope

Lmao, Kjo inspired title.😆

Thanks to Mysticism for finding this.😃

Tope-Bhope Shine On…

We pin down the sinister Tope Bhau and Bhope Bhau, Chandan Roy Sanyal and Amole Gupte….only to discover that they are not so kaminey after all! When we called Amole for the interview he told us, "Arrey, I was on a Sunday holiday while making the film… main actor nahin hoon!" Kind of making us aware of it in case we came up with something too traditional… Chandan, on the other hand, remarked, "Spiderman will be there!" Both of them have clearly had the time of their life debuting as actors in KAMINEY. Their scene together, which we fondly call the Tope-Bhope scene, is clearly a benchmark declaring the onset of dark comedy in Indian cinema. But we just didn't have enough of them and so decided to resurrect Tope Bhau and Bhope Bhau and bring the interaction alive again…

Amole: I have said this a zillion times and I will say this again: I thought someone was playing a prank on me. …Calling me to play a part in a film when I had never given anyone any impression of wanting to act! So I asked the caller to cut the crap and let me work. I was working on a script at that time. Poor Honey (the casting director) really had to work on the convincing bit.

(Though Amole gave Honey his due - yes, Honey is a man - he admitted that being able to see a director like Vishal Bhardwaj at work, played the tempting carrot)

Chandan: Actually, for every actor, just being on the sets of a Vishal Bhardwaj film is an experience.
(For both Amole and Chandan, this might have been the very first feature film, but given their theatre background, they hardly lacked reference. Chandan was, in fact, touring with a British theatre troupe when Honey called him over to audition)
Chandan: I had auditioned for DELHI BELLY; that's when Honey first saw me. I was in America when I got that call.
Amole: What an amazing mix of characters they have put together in the film (KAMINEY)! All the people who play Bhope Bhau's henchmen are actually renowned theatre actors. Each and every one of them, come with such history that they will put an average actor to shame. You might wonder why they required these people to play such small parts, but it is because they were such good actors that they made Bhope look good and big.

(Amole seemed as proud of his co-actors as Sunil Bhope would be of his henchmen!)

Chandan: Even Lobo and Lele, the inspectors…I've known Shiv Subrahmanyam (Lobo) for a long time, in fact. He was a judge at one of the stage performances I had been a part of…

Amole: I still can't get over the way he said 'Gaa na!' Even Lele - Hrishikesh Joshi - was amazing. Small things like the way he threw his hands up in dismay...

Chandan: 'Aarey, yeh toh subah ke 8 bajaye ga!' Lele and I were in the same hotel. That guy has such a fabulous sense of humour. His observations of waiters and stuff had me in splits. But the one guy who was the coolest was Tashi. Totally my kinda guy! He has this whole repertory with him when he travels; his hookah, his rings, his hat. What you see in the film, his look etc…that is just him; Tenzing Nima!

Amole: That guy was the dude. Do you know he is not an actor? He is Vishal's friend. He and his wife are into travel and tourism, he has grown-up kids.

Chandan: You know, as actors, we want more lines to show this guy. If he got an extra word, we would start fretting. Amazing fellow! Lekin dekh ke laga?

Amole: It was a very carefully-picked ensemble, full marks to Honey! Even the Bengali brothers, they were sinister. But all said and done, the actors we are talking about and us, we were not carrying the film on our shoulders. Hats off to Shahid and Priyanka for doing the film! They are brands, man; if the film hadn't done well, they would be the ones facing the brunt. Since it is a male-dominated industry, it would be Shahid who would have to face more flak. The number of finicky details that Shahid would look for was tiresome! In the beginning you feel like questioning it…is it important? But when you see that fabulously finished cut… you know that you have been proven wrong and to be proven wrong at this age is a good thing. It means you are still growing. Even Priyanka…when I met her, I didn't know what to expect of her. She was amazing as Sweety Bhope.

Chandan: Totally agree with you. In fact, had it not been for Shahid's support I don't know if I would have managed to pull Mikhail off. He was always there, small things like when I would get into the character of the coke-head I played, I would be like all around the frame, I would keep forgetting to face the camera, 'Kaifa hai, tu,' and I knew Shahid was pulling me back into frame! In the Tope-Bhope scene, he didn't mind slipping into oblivion since the focus was to be on me and Amole. The way he breaks down when I die and stuff, I can't see another actor in his place. He was amazing. Same for Priyanka, I didn't have many scenes with her but the time when I do, to play the dead man watching all the chaos happening towards the end, I saw her performing. It was lovely to see the way she carries herself through the scene, even when the camera isn't rolling. I haven't seen many of her films but she is clearly one of the best we have today. In fact, I think Mikhail and Sweety would have hit it off really well. I think they have a lot in common. They are the younger sibs to mafiosos They have been bought up like that…. Even the fact that they were both pretty crafty in their own ways…. Kaminey hai dono! Also I think Sweety is like a tigress, she can command whereas Mikhail is here 'n' there…I think he would like that in his women. He'll definitely trip on Sweety.

Amole: Ya, if Bhope and Tope would have got together, we might have left the kaminey brothers aside and started a business of our own! Bhope would be much too glad to have Bengal come into Maharashtra. His prime motive was to expand. He could do anything for that. He can be such a manipulative man otherwise. Gosh, it was tough playing Bhope, he was so bad even to that little boy! He was everything I am not.

Chandan: What's with you and children? There seems like some kind of a long association…

Amole: It is a long connection. I have been brought up in Andheri, LIC colony where 188 families lived together. With the parents working, the kids were often taking care of the younger ones. I have always been around kids. It is not like I am some activist or something, in the larger political sense, it is the inner thing. I am completely at ease with children. It has been 10 years now that I have constantly been working with them. For me, films are merely a medium to work more around these kids, hone their art to make sure they can sustain themselves. That's me! But for you, this might be a very important juncture, right? Life can go either way for you... How does it make you feel?

Chandan: There is a duvidha, there is a fear, there is nervousness. I have always done acting like art, for no basic benefit. How to get a certain film, what to do next…I have never had a plan; in fact, I still don't have a plan in place. I wanted to be an Aeronautical engineer, I wanted to make planes. That didn't happen. I was totally clueless, so theatre was therapy for me. I had a nervous breakdown, slipped into depression, wandered around the streets of Delhi… no certain path. That side of me, no one knows. I am a little mad.

Amole: I won't say you are mad but there is certainly a wild side to you. Yeh yahan par you are being all nice and polite…. But I am sure somewhere in your mind you are totally wild!

Chandan: I don't know, I am not necessarily wild but I have my own stories. During my depression days I found theatre, it helped me deal with a lot of issues. In that way I started giving it respect. Abhi mujhe isse bhunana nahin hai, I didn't want to make it a kamane ka zariya. I have always been good at academics, though. I used to teach kids to earn money, just enough to get me to Bombay to do some more theatre. Thankfully people said I was good. But today, I'm like that poor, naked boy who is suddenly given so much to wear and so much to eat, I don't know whether to eat first or grab some clothes. Suddenly there is this feeling like I have been born again, but there is also this feeling of somewhere losing my friends. I just had a terrible fight with my best friend who thought I'd suddenly developed an attitude. When you walk in and people recognise you as someone who they appreciated in a film, they have been around for a long time and they are used to playing the game a certain way. And they think it is only right you play it the same way. You don't want to upset them either; at the same time you don't know what you really want… Eventually everything is becoming 'them, them, them'… nothing is about me. Lalchi kutte ki tarah, if I eat too much now toh I might land up with indigestion. If I don't eat I will starve. That is how I am feeling right now!

Amole: This might be a testing time for you, as an actor…

Chandan: It is not only as an actor, the art isn't as difficult. It's the other stuff that I have to cope with. Simple things like I have my own sense of style; some call it alternative, others something else. But these people are making me wear all Gucci-Prada. Valentino gown ke saath a girl should walk down the carpet with you, only then can you go places. Jo main nahin kar paunga…I am in a very Gucci-Prada place right now, but I want to be at Fashion Street. Let's see how far I go.

Amole: Maine bade bade Tughlaq dekhe hai, taking their first bow; from Shah Rukh Khan to Aamir Khan. It is how an actor enacts the unwritten script that reveals his potential. For instance, your entry in the Tope-Bhope scene… no screenplay writer can ever tell you how to enter the scene; it is your own doing… You took me by complete surprise; you made me wanna ask myself, 'Arrey, yeh kaun aaya!' I am sure a lot of people who are in the business must have taken notice of you. There was a time people were salivating about trying to reinvent the likes of Naseeruddin Shah, I am sure you'd hope to be there…

Chandan: Of course, I would love to. I had 18 minutes of screen time in KAMINEY and I am really grateful to the support I am getting but now I am answerable to those who are supporting me. There are a lot of my friends for whom I am an inspiration now… someone like my friend who lives in Delhi, he has a little kid now, earns 10 K a month, we've shared a lot of good times together… for him I am an inspiration now. He, who is sitting there at Jangpura Extn, for some reason, thinks I am unreachable. He, in fact, enjoys the fact that someone who used to sit next to him, a Math Honours student with long hair, with a joint in his hand talking about his dreams, being shouted at by the teacher for being caught smoking in the class, is now unreachable. Even to Dr. Tooteja, the teacher who caught me smoking…I feel answerable.

Amole: No, you are not. Don't go by formats, don't look for stability, don't do this, just make a list of people you want to work with… and go at it headlong.

Chandan: Shriram Raghavan is the number one on my list.

Amole: I am helping you put the names on paper. Never know they might read it and give you a call.
Chandan: In that case, there is also Ashutosh Gowariker and…. But frankly, I am the same guy I was six months ago, who went around looking for work. Six months down the line I would still be the same….

Amole: I am sure there will be a lot happening for you right now. I am very optimistic about this time and you!
Chandan: I just don't want to mess it up… neither do I want to lose myself.
_____________________
---Shubarna Mukerji Shu and Rachana Parekh

http://www.vjmmedia.com/cineblitz/interviews/articles/0910/12/1091012002_2.htm