The secret of my acting is that I'm a thief: Dr Shreeram Lagoo

Many feel Thespo's lifetime achievement award conferred on you is actually more of an honour for the youth theatre festival.
I have no such grand delusions about myself. It is an honour to think that people consider me for an award. I'm flattered.

Were you always interested in acting and the stage?
I was always interested in acting right from early childhood. I remember being fond of mimicry and imitating people around as a young child. Almost everyone who saw me then would tell my parents I'd make a good actor.

But that didn't quite work like that while you were in Bhave school, Pune, did it?
My school – Bhave School – has always had a great tradition in dramatics. Several of its alumnus like Smita Patil, Rohini Hattangadi and even Sonali Kulkarni have gone on to make their mark as actors. There I was made to act in a school play at a very young age. Despite preparations, when I was pushed on to stage by the teachers, I froze. But when I gathered my wits and began speaking I knew not only my lines but everyone else's too.
I then kept on watching a lot of Marathi plays and was fascinated by great actors like Nanasaheb Phatak, Keshavrao Daate, Mama Pendse and Master Dinanath. Later, in high school, I started appreciating the acting of Hollywood legends like Paul Muni, Spencer Tracy, Laurence Olivier, Greta Garbo, Norma Shearer and Ingrid Bergman. At that stage, fascination for acting was there, but fear still lurked. So though I didn't pursue acting immediately I was drawn to it.

That had to wait till you joined medical college.
Yes. When I entered medical college, I began acting. In those five years, I did five major plays and 10-odd one-act plays. All that appreciation and applause had me hooked and I could think of little more than acting. Later, I specialised in ENT and began practicing. Since my father was an established doctor and I was good at my surgical skills, my practice in Mumbai and Pune began flourishing.
Yet, the love for theatre persisted… and with like-minded drama-lovers, one was part of the Progressive Dramatics Association set up by our chemistry professor. Juggling medicine and theatre was not easy. But I felt enough was enough when I was away in Africa for three years. Unable to act, I thought my life had come to a standstill. That was when I decided when I returned to India, to give up medicine and act full-time.

And was that easy?
You know, when you love something, you just push yourself. It was not an easy choice at all. I was 42 in 1969 when I switched careers.

The way you reprised the title role in Natasamrat by V V Shirwadkar is still seen as the gold standard in acting by many actors and audiences.
It was by no means an easy role. It would require plunging into the character's pathos and reaching out to audiences. But then for a good actor no role is really easy. When people still recount the protagonist Ganpatrao Belwalkar's voice, mannerisms and nuances asking me for my secret technique, it makes me smile. Not only Natasamrat, for every role, I just read it repeatedly and the character comes out. Then you just fill in the blanks in between. In fact, the secret of my acting is that I'm a thief. When I watch any good actor, whether Marathi, Hindi, Kannada or even British, I just observe how they walk, talk or deliver their lines and pick up things from their style, amalgamating it with mine.

Many blame your heart attack on your involvement with the intense King Lear-like character in Natasamrat. It also reportedly took a toll on Datta Bhatt, Yashwant Dutt, Satish Dubhashi, Chandrakant Gokhale, Madhusudan Kolhatkar and Raja Gosavi who played the title role after you?
That is because the role is so demanding. And most of our actors are not fit. As a doctor, I know I wasn't.
At that time, we did not know any better. There was no one to advice us on the dos and don'ts, on how much and no more. We just plunged ourselves into acting without any concern for health, diet or exercise. And that can be very unhealthy...

You have acted in several iconic films like Pinjara, Saamna and Sinhasan. What do you feel about the kind of Marathi cinema being made today?
I have not been watching enough. There are some really good films that are still being made. I liked Deool and Walu. But you must understand that all art forms struggle through their childhood to find their footing, after birth, reach their zenith in youth, then age and begin to decay.

But would you agree Indian cinema's making rapid strides with its realistic takes on life.
Personally I don't think so. For a country of our size and given the sheer number of years we have been at it, when you compare our work with the best in the world, we still fall woefully short.

The Hindi film industry has a long history of limiting those with acting chops to character roles like comedians, villains, et al. Did you feel trapped despite giving an award winning performance in Gharonda?
I don't believe in this blame game business. We all make choices and decide what we want to do.
Every actor in the world feels this kind of insecurity. And I can understand that. But the reality is that the actor is not the original, the script and its writer are. Without it, you are nothing.

As an octogenarian, when you look back, is there anything you'd have done differently?
Lots of things. While I'd still like to be an actor, I think I could lose the ego. This whole notion of I am the best, can be a bit too much.