No 'saas bahu' for Pankaj Kapur

Director Pankaj Parashar’s ‘Karamchand’, India’s first detective show is back after two decades. Actor Pankaj Kapur, who played the carrot-munching detective, will essay the protagonist yet again. Sushmita Mukherjee, who played his awestruck secretary Kitty, however has been replaced by actor Sucheta Khanna.

Kapur, who is apprehensive about playing ‘Karamchand’ (Sony) again says, “When ‘Karamchand’ was first aired, there was only one channel. During the past 23 years, the audience has watched many such serials. Unless you give them something novel, it is very difficult for a project to click these days.”

Though Kapur did not want to do a second season of ‘Karamchand’, he relented because he has a long association with director Parashar. Kapur adds, “Pankaj kept on pestering me for the last one and a half year. For the first time I am readdressing a character. I insist on the script. If it is not good, I tell Pankaj that we should rework on it. I pick up the writer’s thoughts and interpret the character the way Pankaj wants it.”

Kapur has an axe to grind with channels, which he feels have forgotten their social responsibility. “Why project a bunch of lies to the layman? Making money is not everything in life. Indian culture is being misrepresented on almost every show. There is more to life than saas, bahu and sindoor. There is no brand identity as far as the channels are concerned. The staple diet of mainstream cinema stands good today in serials too.”

Incidentally, Kapur has films including Rajkumar Santoshi’s ‘Halla Bol’ (plays a theatre activist) and Bhawna Talwar’s satire ‘Dharm’ (opposite his actor wife Supriya Pathak) coming up. Presently, Kapur is also working on a script and is all set to make his directorial debut.