Naseeruddin Shah has rediscovered his funnybone in the forthcoming web-series Kaun Banegi Shikharwati. In an interview with me he admits he is tired of playing serious roles. “I got typecast as a serious actor too damn early in my career and have struggled to shake off that mantle, it was too heavy to lug around but despite my efforts I never got the chance to perform in as many comedies as I would have liked to. But maybe that was also a disguised blessing considering the kind of comedies we make in Mumbai.”

We haven't seen too much of Naseer’s impeccable comic timing since Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron. The maestro of the performing arts feels comedy is a serious business. “Comedy is way more difficult that than the serious stuff, in fact I always tell my students that the easiest thing an actor is asked to do is to cry --and all actors LOVE to cry!--but even some experienced and excellent actors have trouble laughing .Watch Sanjeev Kumar in Shatranj Ke Khiladi, for example.”

Many actors, feels Naseer, don't understand the mechanics of laughter. “What happens to the breath and so on when one laughs. Crying is easy because the actor can just recall a past incident, however disconnected the context may be, and the tears begin to flow. Serious actors are held in higher regard because they are.. well.. serious! Mehmood sahab in my opinion was one of the most gifted actors Hindi cinema has ever had yet he is remembered only as a comedian.”

Naseer has some lovely ladies for company in Kaun Banegi Shikharwati. “Lara Dutta is a delightful surprise since I'd never seen her work but she has a WOW personality and of course she's a gorgeous looker and wonderful actor. Soha Ali Khan has an innate sweetness which I suspect masks a fiery temper-though I didn't see any evidence of it! Kritika Kamra, of the sunny smile has something in her eyes which makes you look at her twice, she's terrifically confident and I think she could play an introvert as well as she has done this part. And Anya Singh radiates a kind of mystery and innocence, though I hope she doesn't begin to take herself too seriously and milk these qualities. What she needs as a breakout role is of a foul mouthed woman of the streets!"

Naseer Saab, who has worked in most of his best works with Shabana Azmi, is all praise for his new co-stars, "All these girls were wonderful and affectionate and caring and sincere about their work and I'd happily work with any or all of them again."

Naseer has lavish praise for his colleague who co-stars with him in Shikharwati. "Raghuvir Yadav, I have been a fan of forty years now ever since I saw him on stage in Delhi and couldn't recognise him the next time I saw him. His performance in Massey Sahab, I consider one of the finest in Hindi cinema.”

Also Read: Lara Dutta shares her experience of working with Naseeruddin Shah in Kaun Banegi Shikharwati- “Was on my wishlist for the longest time ever”

2021 was an exceptional year for Manoj Bajpayee. He was officially crowned the Family Man of India. The Amazon Prime show catapulted Manoj to the position of the topmost OTT star. Characteristically Manoj remains unaffected. “I haven’t changed with success or failure. Either way I’ve always been a very responsible actor. I take neither failure nor success too seriously. They are both part of the same cycle of life, and we have to accept both. I’m taking the compliments and praise coming my way with a lot of humility. At the same time I am never bogged down by expectations and the responsibility. Every assignment of mine is equally important to me. I have never differentiated between big and small projects. To me they are all big. And I will continue to be the same. I will choose the assignments very carefully, not to fulfill expectations but to satisfy the hunger within me as an actor. I’ve told you this before: repetition is death for me.”

At the same time, Manoj admits life has changed after the spectacular success of The Family Man. “I admit I am receiving more praise for this than ever before. I take the compliments and the criticism with equal humility. I never get carried away by success. There are two ladies in my life to make sure I remain grounded: my wife and daughter. If I strut around like a star they will probably laugh so hard my balloon will be punctured.”

Family Man 2 in 2021 took Manoj’s career to another level. But Manoj says he is just as proud of his other OTT releases last year. “Silence…Can You Hear It?, Dial 100 and Hungama Hai Kyon Barpat from the Ray anthology on Netflix for which both Gajraj Rao and I were immensely praised…these are all as precious to me as The Family Man. But let me tell you, 2022 is going to be very different from the content I shot for last year. So I am looking forward to the coming year. June-July onwards in 2022, all my new content will start streaming. They are all my passion projects. So I am eager to see how audiences react to them.”

How does Manoj manage to remain so excited about his work? “Yes I am very excited. I continue to be enthused by my work. It is a renewable process. Every year I make sure I look forward to the following year by doing the work that I haven’t done earlier. Luckily I am never short of options. I am lucky to have worked with such brilliant directors in recent times like Devashish Makhija, Deepesh Jain and Abhishek Chaubey. In fact I am now shooting a project with Abhishek Choubey. He is one of my most favourite directors. He is among the finest filmmakers in the country. It’s a privilege to be directed by him. I learn so much just by being on the set with him The way he treats his actors, the way he helps actors get all the nuances right…I’ve learnt so much from him. I am also very happy for Aban Deohans and Rensil d’Silva whose films with me Silence and Dial 100 have done well.”

Manoj’s other significant achievements during the year? “I got my National award for Bhonsle and also a Filmfare award for Family Man. I have just shot three fantastic films directed by Kanu Behl, Ram Reddy and Abhishek Choubey. Hopefully audiences will like me in these, as I have tried to things that I’ve never done before. I’d say these are significant moves ahead for me.”

Looking ahead, Manoj admits to a feeling of uncertainty because of the continuing Covid crisis. “Uncertainty unpredictability….have become the norm in our lives. Whenever I hear of another lockdown I become really sad, because I want to keep working. I don’t want any of my work to be pending. I don’t want any backlog. I want civilization to be saved. I want all of us to get back to our normal lives. I want the smiles to return on everyone’s life. The road ahead makes me sad. And also a little nervous. So many directors are waiting to start their films. When I look at their anxiety, I get very sad. They don’t deserve this. No one deserves this.”

Also Read: “Please give the superstar tag to someone else,” says Manoj Bajpayee

Brahmastra producer Karan Johar during a recent interview said that Alia Bhatt and Ranbir Kapoor gave seven years of their lives to the film. The filmmaker also mentioned that Alia signed the film when she was 21 and she literally grown up in cinema.

In Film Companion’s roundtable discussion with Anupama Chopra, Karan talked about the upcoming star-studded film Brahmastra and Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt’s passion and hard work that went into the film that has been in the making for seven years. He said, “You can just write on the fact that there's a boy (Ayan Mukerji) who's worked for seven years, every day of his life. Literally, I've seen with my own eyes – the blood, sweat and tears, every single day. That boy has relentlessly just worked on this movie, discovered so much. I've just seen his passion. He has had actors that have given him everything. I met Rajamouli sir and he used to say how Prabhas and Rana Daggubati gave five years of their life to Baahubali.”

“Ranbir has given seven years. Alia has given seven years without questioning. Dates have got adjusted, schedules have moved, governments have changed, Brahmastra was still on. It was still on and there was that kid who has grown up. Alia grew up with Brahmastra. When she signed the film, she was 21 years old. I mean, she's 28 today and you know when the film is going to release, she'll be 29. She literally grew up in cinema. She came as a newbie to [become] a veteran actress now. It was not because it was being delayed for any indulgent reason, or something; it was just taking so long to match execution to vision,” he further added.

“I know that I don't regret a single day of giving my support and love, or the studio Disney that put in all the muscle, as well as all the members of the cast. If you ask them, even now when I see, they're so passionate about each and every frame of Brahmastra. We just hope and pray literally every day that it matches, and none of us are in it for the money anymore. Because the Lord knows that even the film is a mega blockbuster. It's not that everyone is taking the fat cheque home, because all the money's in the film. But it's become like a passion project beyond passion,” he continued.

Brahmastra, written and directed by Ayan Mukerji, and produced by Karan Johar, stars Amitabh Bachchan, Ranbir Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Mouni Roy and Nagarjuna Akkineni. The film is intended to serve as the first film in a planned trilogy. The film is scheduled to be released in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada on 9 September 2022.

Also Read: Alia Bhatt and Ranbir Kapoor end the year on a ‘wild’ note; see pics

During 2021, Taapsee Pannu had two releases. She says the year was fulfilling for her in unexpected ways. “2021 for me was all about getting through the year somehow. It was just about survival. We were already hammered in 2020 by the sudden pandemic then 2021 was a bigger blow for all of us. I thought if I could just get through the year somehow, I’d be okay. All my energies were channelized into somehow getting through the year. So I had really not set any benchmarks for myself last year.”

Taapsee’s Rashmi Rocket and Haseen Dillruba had their share of supporters and naysayers. And Taapsee is okay with that. “I think every film of mine has had its share of supporters and naysayers. I can’t remember a single film of mine that has been liked or disliked by all. Isn’t that how it is for all films? There will be people who will celebrate its virtues and others who will focus on the flaws. Good or bad, is subjective. What matters is, did they speak about the film? I don’t take the opinion of the trained protestors seriously. The ones who have made it a habit to get offended politically or culturally or habitually.”

What matters to Taapsee Pannu is the real audience. “I don’t ask people’s opinion on my film. I wait for them to tell me what they think. When I go out for a dinner, and people approach me aage se (on their own) to say whether they liked my film. That to me is the real audience response. My first screening of Rashmi Rocket –where I played an athlete—was with the entire cast and crew, and a lot of real athletes. When I saw them clapping and cheering I felt I must have done something right and then girls who played supportive roles in scenes said they were touched by the film. That made me feel good. It made me feel the film had organically impressed the audience.”

For Haseen Dillruba, Taapsee had a more adult audience. “They told me how crazy the film was and how unpredictable it was as a movie experience. These are all people who gave me their opinion without my asking. These are for me more valuable than the opinions of those who get pleasure from criticizing films, or maybe those who genuinely didn’t like the film. I don’t deny the existence of genuine naysayers. No film or for that anything you do in life will get a hundred percent acceptance. And the sooner you accept this, the better.”

Ask Taapsee which of her two 2021 releases were her favourite and she laughs. “It is said that a mother can’t choose between her children. I can’t choose any of my films as my favourite. How can I say which one I preferred between my two 2021 releases? Haseen Dillruba and Rashmi Rocket came during the most challenging year of our lives. My only regret is that they were not released in theatres. They were designed for the large screen. We never thought they would not make it into theatres. We would have shot it differently if we knew it was going on OTT. It would have been shot in a slightly different way for OTT. The shots had a theatre feel to them.”

As a female hero known to do author-backed roles it is difficult for Taapsee to find leading men who are willing to let their co-star take centre stage. She has gotten used to this problem. “This has been a consistent issue for years. And I’ve made peace with the fact that it will continue to be an issue. Without taking names, there are prominent leading men who have said no to projects with me arguing the scripts were women-oriented. They have actually said, ‘This is an out-and-out girl’s film so I don’t want to do it.’ Some really talented leading actors have said no to films where I have a larger part than the male lead. I have never shied away from doing smaller parts in a male-driven film. So I really don’t know how to explain this lack of sportsmanship other than by blaming the male ego. Do they have so little faith in their talent that they feel they won’t get the audiences’ attention and love in a smaller role? I look at the West and I am amazed at how the big male stars do roles in films where the protagonist is a woman. What thought processes makes the male actor in the West more open to women-centric films than their counterparts in these parts? I certainly hope this mind-set changes soon.”

In 2022, Taapsee has four films ready. “Although I don’t know in which order they will release: Loop Lapeta, Shaabaash Mithu, Dobaara and Blurr . I am halfway through another project Woh Ladki Hai Kahaan. All these should be out in 2022.”

With Blurr, Taapsee has turned producer. “It just fell into my lap. Ideally I’d have liked to give my production plans more thought. But like my acting career, my turning producer was also destined to happen. I am enjoying my new role as a producer. Usually when I am on the set I concentrate on getting my lines right. This time I was trying to make sure everything was okay for everyone on the set. I am not sure that was the right thing to do as an actor. I am looking at other things as a producer where I am not an actor, which I will announce soon.”

Taapsee has her fingers crossed for 2022. “I hope it is more organized. Because of the lockdown the last two years have been a little crushed and cluttered for me. I have been literally running in and out of sets trying to find time for myself and my family. This has taken a toll on my physical and mental health. I am hoping 2022 will be more peaceful. I hope there are no shocking sudden lockdowns in 2022. Touch wood.”

Also Read: Taapsee Pannu on her plans for marriage, “I am in no hurry to get married”