We enter Sohum Shah’s office in Aram Nagar just as he is wolfing down his favourite aloo-matar (peas-potato) parantha with kala chana and chai (black chickpea and tea). “I am a foodie. I am not into gymming,” says Shah co-opting us into a tempting plateful of calories. Shah who grew up with filmi dreams in Sri Ganganagar, Rajasthan made his debut with the forgettable Baabarr (2009). Shah was first noticed in the 2013 film directed by Anand Gandhi – The Ship of Theseus (that Shah also produced) as the money-minded but good-hearted Rajasthani businessman who finds a larger meaning in life by helping the needy get justice. Roles in projects like Meghna Gulzar’s Talvar and Hansal Mehta’s Simran followed. Shah spoke to The Hindu on the eve of his return as actor-producer with his most ambitious and six years-in-the-making venture Tumbbad. Edited excerpts from an interview…
What kind of a leap did you have to take as actor for Tumbbad?
I have had no formal training in acting. No FTII or NSD for me. I have been involved in several businesses and the last was real estate. There were only two things in Sri Ganganagar—cricket and Bollywood. Aamir, Shahrukh and Salman have been Brahma Vishnu Mahesh for me. I derived my education from films, not from books. Like Aamir Khan inspired me to put my heart and soul in work. To do one thing at a time but do it well. It stayed at the back of my mind. That’s why perhaps it took six years to make Tumbbad. I gave my 100% to it.
Hum Aapke Hain Koun made me value my family. Shah Rukh Khan’s charm in Dilwale Dulhania Le Jaayenge inspired me a lot. He has no inhibitions. I see life, culture in him. I was just the opposite—socially awkward, shy. I think there was an intuitive need in me to open up. Acting has been a therapy for me. You play different kinds of characters, get to understand several psychologies.
The character in The Ship of Theseus is very close to who I am. I didn’t need to work very hard on him. [The character in] Talvar [ACP Vedant Mishra] was grey. I had to work on his psychology, body and politics. I understood politics after having always lived in a very safe environment. I didn’t know of the term corridor politics. I was very naive. My understanding of life grew with the character.
My dream project Tumbbad was happening in their shadow. The role here is a treat for any actor. I don’t know when I will get the opportunity next. No one in my family has gone to the gym. There is a saying “baniyo ke bete wajan nahin uthaate (businessmen’s kids don’t lift weights)”. I did it to build the physicality of the larger than life character that is Vinayak. I felt the need to invest in the character. His psychology is very different. Earlier, I never knew what craft was. For me, it was about understanding the character and building a bridge between your own personality and the character. I learnt how to structure things. I had always played on spontaneity. Magical things do happen with that, but for some characters you need to do more work. There was an older Vinayak, [and] a younger one. Then there was this whole thing about maintaining the consistency of the character over six years that it took to make the film. That was the most difficult. Then there is the emotional memory, the continuity of the psychology of the character. That is very difficult to maintain.
Are you a wrestler in the film?
No, but I do something that is larger than life.
You are a foodie. Did you have to eat a lot or cut down on food for the role?
It’s not a gym-toned body of today. It’s not a no-fat, only muscle, six-pack look. It’s a wrestler-like body of the 1930s-40s. Push-ups, weights I did it all and had paranthas too. That’s the privilege I had. The food and gym went hand in hand.
When did it become imperative for you to move to Mumbai from Sri Ganganagar?
I realised that the ground in which you are playing, is where you will also have to practice. I first shifted in 2010 and lived here for two years. Coming from a small town I found Mumbai very different. I didn’t even have the confidence to order a cappuccino. I used to be on the backfoot, felt suffocated. I moved to Jaipur. It was easier to travel from there to Mumbai. I lived there for four years but realised that I will have to make a choice. I will face, fight, make peace and adopt the Mumbai culture. I shifted back two years ago in 2016. I find a relationship, a familiarity now with Juhu-Andheri area. I like Aram Nagar, it doesn’t feel like Mumbai. There is greenery, no tall buildings. In the six years of making Tumbbad my relationship with Mumbai also grew and got formalised.
It had always been an up and down journey, both for the film and my equation with the city. I have never found [the] external world as much of a problem. My film gets made in six years, the time and money invested, will it be a hit or not. These things don’t have as much meaning for me. I can fight with external things, I have that strength. Internally I am very weak, [my] emotional journey is always more problematic. The fact, that I have to stay away from my brother, mother, friends in a different culture. I came to Mumbai late in life. To find a footing, make new friends in a new city becomes more difficult then. Now it’s “jeena yahan, marna yahan, iske siva jaana kahan…”
Didn’t you get tired with the film in the making for six years?
It’s like you fall in love with things. Then you don’t bother about two months or six years. The excitement of having shot something well keeps you alive. I have also been an optimistic man. My life has been like a dream. My father used to earn ₹3000 a month. At 13, I started working; all I wanted to do was grow up and earn money. I built a township of my own while I was in the real estate business. At times, you do feel tired. When [the] Tumbbad shoot was in the last leg, when it was about to get over things kept getting delayed. I used to wonder when it will end. It ended on May 13, 2015 at 4 a.m. It was like being in a war that had suddenly been stopped. Once I got the film I had this asset I could rely on. There is a joy in seeing the footage. The following three years of post-production were easier than the first three of [the] shoot.
Apart from the time there must have been monetary problems as well…
It has taken a toll on me. But, like I told you, for me fighting with externals is easy than the inner emotions. It was the prime of my life, my family thought I was losing out on opportunity in business. But a vairagya (detachment) had set in. I could manage. Tumbadd felt like that once in a lifetime opportunity, both as an actor and a producer. I did everything the creative guys asked for. We got the background music done abroad. We paid six times more. The director wanted it on that scale. It feels impactful. VFX has been done in Sweden. We re-shot to improve the scale. There was a market scene with lots of junior artistes, 1,000 extras, many drums. The director said it wasn’t working. As a producer I had put a lot into it. As an actor it was an important scene for me. There was an emotional underpinning to it. I am a melodramatic man. I have grown up on it. It’s something I haven’t yet done. I want to do it. It was the closest I had come to it. We couldn’t retain it in the film. We have to agree with the creative guys.
Are you are an ideal producer then?
I am not a very creative person. As an actor you are creative within certain limits. I don’t have the hold on things like a Karan Johar or Aamir Khan because I come from a different space. I can only trust and invest in people. I can understand people. Who is correct, who should be listened to. Maybe, he thought the audience would get bored and it would be difficult to pull them back.
What is the mystery behind three directors?
There is no mystery. When we started off it was a small film. What we ended up with had five times more budget. Rahi Anil Barve’s premise was interesting. While making we found more meat in it. We thought we should add more resources. So many people were justified, it couldn’t have been a one-man job. Anand Gandhi contributed a lot to the film. Adesh Prasad got his own crazy ideas. It’s a participation of creative people with which the film could have been made. It’s not a dosa, parantha or bhatura. It’s a complete thali and that was possible because of all the three. It’s Rahi’s kid, then Anand and Adesh added their own colours to it.
There were talks of falling apart…
No, how can that be. Anand has contributed a lot to the film. Every person has his own dreams and desires. Each has to follow his path. He has to do his kind of things, I have to do something different. But leave aside the film Anand has a lot of contribution in my life. Whatever acting I am able to do on screen today, a big part of it is Anand’s contribution. He has taught me acting, he has slogged hard with me for hours. I couldn’t understand the landscape of Mumbai and Bollywood. He made me understand it. It’s a journey together.
What is the role you like playing more—that of the actor or the producer?
Acting. I produce to be able to act.
So you will act in any film that you produce?
That’s the idea. If I produce alone it will take a lot of time away from me as an actor. So I build a bridge between the two and act in the films I produce. Recently I did get a script, a horror film about female foeticide. That was the first that I only wanted to produce but it couldn’t work out. I was willing to give away one year for it. I have made a big township, now I want to keep things small, enjoy life. Film production is not a business for me. I do films for hobby, as passion. I don’t get my bread and butter from them. Success, money is by product. Life is bigger than the numbers you are chasing. You don’t need much in life.
Has a period horror ever been attempted before? Mythology, religion what is there in it?
I never made it as a horror film. It is an element but for me it’s more like grandmother’s tale. Vikram Betaal, Sinhasan Battesi, Amar Chitra Katha… There is intrigue, mystery, horror, thriller, emotional drama everything… I haven’t seen something like this. I wonder why such a film hasn’t been attempted before. We have so many such stories…
Have you shown the film to Brahma Vishnu Mahesh?
I am asking Aanand L. Rai to show it to Shah Rukh. They might be my Brahma Vishnu Mahesh, point is whether they are willing to have me as their Hanuman.