Tamas was one of your earlier serials...
Yes, I have done some wonderful serials on TV including Bharat Ek Khoj, Kakaaji Kahi, Yatra etc, and Tamas is definitely one of them. I am happy it is being telecast again on History TV 18. The serial is about the not-so-good part of our history — the partition. It is a reminder of the kind of price we have to pay if we separate on the basis of communities. We were to shoot in Punjab but couldn’t go there because terrorism was at its peak. So we shot in Mumbai.
What are your memories of shooting for it?
I was slim, still I had to lose some weight and grow a beard because my character was shown to be poor. I had read a lot about the partition so I could relate to it. I didn’t have to prepare as such because both the book on which the serial was based, and the script were moving. The most difficult scene, however, was the one where I had to kill a pig and I was really scared that the pig would attack me. I insisted on having a three feet high khurli (a place where food for pigs is kept) so that if it attacks me I can jump into it!
The first airing had sparked controversies..
Yes, people were touchy. Hyderabad Doordarshan was attacked and in Mumbai somebody went to court. I remember Justice Reddy asking Govind (Nihalani, director) about certain scenes like the one where a Muslim gentleman saves the life of a Hindu family.
When the Hindu man tells him that he has forgotten his jewellery, the Muslim guy goes back to get it. There he sees a family being killed and a Hindu servant grinning. Looking at the servant, something happens to him and he kicks him. When Justice Reddy asked him why he showed that, Govind told Justice Reddy that, that was the tragedy. People who are objective and sensitive lose balance when something like this happens. But there was nothing controversial. Tamas did not take any sides.
