BJP wilfully ignored my potential: Nitish Bharadwaj

You've wrapped up your shoot for Mohenjo Daro (MD). What was it like shooting for 2016's most expensive Indian film?
It has been great! Ashutosh (Gowariker) and me go back over 30 years as friends and there's a wavelength match in the way we understand cinema, so things came together better than I'd expected. The film's expensive because Ashutosh's sparing no cost in getting the best. Hrithik Roshan plays the lead, renowned cinematographer Karl Walter Lindenlaub (of Independence Day, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, The Haunting and Stargate) is recreating the Indus Valley of 2600 BC, A.R. Rahman has composed the music, Glenn Boswell's choreographing stunts, British trainer Joshua Kyle Baker has trained Hrithik and VFX is being supervised by Karen Goulekas of The Day After Tomorrow and 10,000 BC...

This is the first time you're working under Gowariker's direction.
Yeah! We haven't worked together. He messaged me in January last year asking to call him urgently. He'd seen Yaksh, which is also complete. When he told me of the part I felt it challenged me as an actor and agreed despite the short notice. I landed in Bhuj the next day.

Most of the crew say MD was both a difficult and challenging project?
That's because the points of references aren't easy to come by. History tells us only the barest minimum about the Indus Valley Civilisation. Except for ruins, broken pieces of pottery and few coins with the bull emblazoned, there is little to help archaeologically. Unlike the Mughal era where the architecture, painting, lifestyles and food is known, there's little to help (here). The bronze nude statuette with bangles all the way up to her elbows and the male bearded head in soapstone are all we have.

Tell us more about your role.
I can't tell you anything more than that people are going to be surprised with my character Durjan. He has all the human frailties. Character apart, the look itself was a challenge since I had to look middle-aged. It took a whole evening of work by Vikram Gaikwad and team. I'll be surprised if audiences recognise me when promos are out.

The name suggests it is a negative character...
I'll leave that for you to find post release. I've already told you far too much. (Laughs)

Will you tell us more about Yaksh?
Yaksh is completely different. It's a psychological thriller directed by the brilliant Mukul Abhyankar. I play a mythological character who is shockingly contemporary. Whether it is his clothes, accessories or the SUVs he drives, he is cool personified.

True you have two releases this year, but why where you missing in action for so long?
I like to believe that all experiences good and bad teach you things about life. But it's true that I made a some really terrible decisions which set me back by 15 years in my career.

Like?
Like going off to London soon after Nache Nagin Gali Gali (with Meenakshi Seshadri) in 1989 and Sangeet (with Madhuri Dixit) in 1991 after my first marriage. Producers kept calling but I was busy being a nobody in London. It took me a while to realise how wrong I was.

Must have been tough considering the hysteria around your Krishna persona.
Well, that's always been the case. You know Krishna and me are now inseparable. I still remember autowalas getting people to our building in Goregaon to point out where Lord Krishna lived. All that feet touching and expecting me to bless them now seems surreal. Yet one has to respect that for those people its a real thing. You know my mom too said that every time she prayed she saw my face as Krishna's.

You were drawn to the performing arts from early childhood?
Because I was so good at spinning a yarn, my teachers in the sixth grade at Gokhale Education Society school, Girgaum, asked me to put up a play at an annual day function where Smita Patil (then a popular DD news anchor) was the chief guest. She not only praised me but encouraged me to join Little Theatre for children at Saihitya Sangh where Sudha Karmmarkar, Dr Kashinath Ghanekar and Prabhakar Panshikar taught.

And yet you trained to become a vet?
I was later sent to Bhosale military school where I fell in love with horses. That's what saw me choose veterinary sciences after XII science.

You came back to get into politics...
You see, my trade unionist-lawyer dad was close to several leaders like George Fernandes who were part of NDA-I. Once I'd met several of the top BJP leaders it was Advaniji who asked me to contest the parliamentary elections from Jamshedpur in 1996 when I defeated veteran Inder Singh Namdhari. In 1999, the party fielded me against then MP CM Digvijaya Singh's brother Laxman Singh from Rajgarh constituency where I lost.

But you were disillusioned with electoral politics.
I stayed on with the party as a loyal worker till I realised that they simply don't value me or my contribution. The petty politics and the backstabbing to ensure I was denied a ticket in 2004 was beyond me. BJP wilfully ignored my potential as I made some people insecure. So I left.

You sound like Shatrughan Sinha.
I can understand his pain. Since the Jai Prakash Narayan Patna rally in 1977, people have said that there has never been a rally as huge as the one by Atalji in 1999. I remember over five lakh people had gathered. I was the third last speaker before Shatruji and Atalji.

And you spoke against reservation...
Yes. You can imagine. That too in Bihar. You know caste-based reservations are eating away into this country. The Congress began by appeasing minorities and V.P. Singh went a step ahead with Mandalisation. Wrongs by past generations can't be corrected by reverse discrimination. It only spreads more hatred and acrimony. The only criterion should be merit. If needed, economic criteria irrespective of caste should be used to help poor.

How would you grade the Modi government over its two year-long rule?
Isn't two years too early? After all he's cleaning up mess that Congress created for several decades. What is dominating the news now doesn't matter. What Modi is doing for the country in the long run is good. He's concentrating on the economy.

But the Modi wave lost its sweep in Delhi?
What happened in Delhi was a result of infighting and poor morale among workers over projection of the wrong candidate as CM by the party.

And Bihar?
The mandate in Bihar was not against Modi or BJP but against India's growth. Its sad that caste politics won.

Will you also defend the beef ban?
Interference in dietary preferences and religion is avoidable for anyone in power. Even if something has to be decided, religious leaders should be consulted first.

Your first directorial debut won you state government award. Any more films coming up?
Pitruroon was based on a short novella by Sudha Murthy. I am now working on a historical for which I have locked the writing.