Meena Kumari aapa must be so proud of her shagird: Sachin Pilgaonkar

From the beginning of your innings as a child artiste you have always played strong author-backed lovable characters. Why a negative role now?
I have let filmmaking take a back seat and begun focusing only on acting these days. All actors hunger for the new and challenging. So when Subodh Bhave who is directing KKG, came to me with this role, there was no way I’d say no. In the world of Indian theatre this is one of the most epoch-making characters. In the musical play it was enacted by none other than the legendary classical vocalist Pt Vasantrao Deshpande.

So are you saying this character isn’t completely negative?
Nobody in real life is completely negative or positive. We are all a mix of both just like Khan sahib. All that this charismatic singer who has travelled from Agra to Miraj wants is recognition for his gharana and its musical style.

Despite his amazing talent and rich voice he has to struggle even for meagre necessities. Obsession with beating Pt Bhanushankar (Shankar’s character) for 13 long years makes him bitter. His ears poisoned by his wife Nabila, he does the unthinkable.

How much is the movie alike the play?
Though the film is inspired by the play, it is an independent work of art where the best people are coming together. I don’t think we were trying to recreate the play. Theatre lovers have option of still enjoying the stagings. This is cinema and we are only using the core idea of the play to create a completely different paradigm.

You do not speak Marathi at all in the film..
The character of Khasaheb Aftab Hussain is from Bareilly. Making him speak Marathi would ruin the whole experience. Given how finicky Subodh is about details, he too felt that the character and his family should only speak khaalis Urdu.

Did your command over Urdu help?
Must have… The director should tell you. (Smiles) My training in Urdu happened in 1966 under the tutelage of none other than legendary actress and Urdu poetess Meena Kumari. I used to call her Meena aapa. She would be very fond of me and call me on the sets of Majhli Didi. She would send her car home to fetch me to her house at Janki Kutir in Juhu. She’d play table tennis with me and then would start a lesson in Urdu diction. When I would want to get back to TT she would lovingly admonish me, “Beta you’re so talented. If you work on your language it’ll take you places. Mark my words, you’ll remember me.” Wherever she is, Meena aapa must be so proud of her shagird.

I have been in love with the language and its poetry ever since. At home too, I spend hours poring through books with an Urdu dictionary at hand to keep improving…

So much so, that you helped others like Sakshi Tanwar too…
My director asked me and I was happy to be of help. In a film where everything from the fabric and weaves to the music and cinematography is being done with such minor detailing, why scrimp on anything I thought. I was present during the dubbing sessions for both Sakshi (who plays Khansahib’s wife Nabila) and Amruta Khavilkar (who plays Zarina, his daughter).

You’ve not only sung all songs picturised on you in all films since Navri Mile Navryala (1984), but also given playback for other actors. Why didn’t you choose to sing your own songs in KKG?
The songs here were completely pure classical raga-based. Though I’ve heard nothing but good things about my singing, this isn’t something I’d have done with ease. We’ve got none other than Pt Vasantrao Deshpande’s grandson and music legatee Rahul Deshpande to give playback for me. Of course, as a singer, expressions, hand movements and the look came easily to me.

Pt Deshpande acted in a movie Ashtavinayak (1979) with you. Did you interact with him much and did that help when you essayed Khansahib’s role?
Pt Deshpande was close friends with my father and often came home. I have childhood memories of him breaking into song in the middle of conversations. I must have watched the musical play KKG at least thrice as a little child. Having said that, I needed to remember this isn’t a play but cinema. It has a narrative that follows its own trajectory. By the time we got to the first look, I’d found the bearing of the character. It also helped that we had two times national award winner Vikram Gaikwad for make-up and designer Nachiket Barve who has painstakingly researched costumes.

What was it like working with Shankar Mahadevan as an actor?
How can anyone not like Shankar? Perhaps, because of his music, there is something divine about him. Despite being such an acclaimed singer-composer he doesn’t have any pride. He’d regale the unit singing from his rich repertoire of Vithhala compositions in the Bhakti tradition. With me there was another kind of bonding though. We’re both unabashed foodies so we bonded over looking for good food during breaks in the shoot.