Raghubir Yadav says he 'dislikes' the term acting, explains why: 'Acting lafz mere liye bada khatarnak hai…'

Acting as a term reduces the magnitude of the profession, veteran actor Raghubir Yadav. He also equates understanding the soul of a character to a “spiritual journey”. The National School of Drama (NSD) graduate believes it is important to get into the depth of characters even if it requires venturing into uncharted territories. “Acting is a very dangerous term for me, I dislike it (Acting lafz mere liye bada khatarnak hai, usse main napasand karta hoon)… For me, it is about understanding the character and getting closer to the role. If someone says, ‘Yadav sahab, thoda zara iski acting kar dijiye’.

“Then, it is acting a character and not getting into the soul of a character. You need to feel the character and capture its soul. I enjoy getting into the depth,” Yadav told PTI in an interview. The 66-year-old recalled while preparing for Mira Nair’s 1988 film Salaam Bombay!, in which he played the character of a drug addict Chillum, he spent some time with real-life addicts on Nana Patekar’s advice.“I don’t even smoke and I had to play this role. I told Nana that I have never smoked, so he made me sit among drug addicts and I would just observe them. Acting is like spirituality, meditation (Acting bhi ek tarah ka adhyatma hai, meditation hai). I keep learning and I feel I want to look for more such experiences,” he added.

After graduating from the NSD, Yadav moved to Mumbai and his first film was 1985’s Massey Sahib. For his performance in the movie, he received many prestigious awards, including the best actor recognition at the Venice Film Festival as well as FIPRESCI Critics Award.

The Jabalpur-born actor followed it up with memorable TV shows such as Mungerilala Ke Haseen Sapne, and Mullah Nasruddin and went on to play varied roles in films such as Dharavi, Bandit Queen, Lagaan, Firaaq, Peepli Live, Newton and Pagglait, among others.

The influx of digital platforms has also lent Yadav a chance to play important characters in series such as Panchayat, The Great Indian Murder, and the film anthology Ray. There was a time in his career when people tried to box him as a comedian, said Yadav, adding that he would prefer to starve rather than be repetitive.

"I would not do anything that I don't believe in. I don't want to do anything that will upset my audience... I have learned this from theatre, where many stalwarts would die of hunger (bhookhe mar gaye) but never did something they didn't have faith in."

The actor will next be seen in Minus 31 - The Nagpur Files, a thriller movie directed by Pratik Moitro. The movie’s cast also includes Nisha Dhar, Rajesh Sharma, Jaya Bhattacharya, Kaambhaari, Santosh Juvekar, Shivankit Parihar, and Debashish Naha. The movie is set to release on Friday.