In an Exclusive Podcast with Lehren Retro, Bollywood villain Mukesh Rishi talks about the iconic 'Kheer Scene' with legendary megastar Amitabh Bachchan in their cult film Sooryavansham (1999). The Pan-India artist also shares his experience of working in various film industries across the country, especially focusing on the South.
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00:00 Do you eat Kheer?
00:01 Kheer is my favourite.
00:03 Favourite. We thought so too.
00:05 You had given someone poison-filled Kheer 20-25 years ago.
00:09 (Laughs)
00:11 Then their reaction was a bit wrong.
00:14 Although the film was a big hit.
00:16 Actually, Kheer...
00:18 If you go to a shooting at night,
00:22 1 or 2 pm,
00:24 the first thing I wanted to eat was something cold.
00:28 Nothing was better than Kheer.
00:30 My wife knew it, so she used to make it for me.
00:33 Anyway, Punjabis like Kheer.
00:37 And you...
00:38 That story in Suryavansham...
00:42 Sometimes, things that are seen on screen
00:46 become popular among young people.
00:49 I think, when that film was released,
00:52 after that, the film came out many times on TV.
00:56 Many families watched it.
01:00 So, the children's reaction to these small things was...
01:04 "You want to feed me Kheer?"
01:06 So, I think, that made it popular.
01:11 These were the lines.
01:13 Sir, it comes on Setmax every week.
01:15 And there are many memes.
01:17 You worked with Thakur Bhanu Pratap Singh,
01:19 Amitabh Bachchan, the legendary mega star.
01:22 And you had a good role too.
01:24 You were right in front of him.
01:25 So, what was that experience like?
01:27 What was the bonding like?
01:28 Tell us about Big B and you.
01:29 How did it go?
01:30 First of all, I started with the senior people.
01:34 They were all big people from the start.
01:36 I used to prepare myself.
01:39 And I used to do my best in the beginning.
01:46 Because I believe in one thing,
01:51 that there will be many stages in your life.
01:54 Like, you will keep working.
01:56 Every director has his own style of making you work.
01:59 But even today, I consider the director to be number one.
02:03 When I say, "Okay", I think it's okay.
02:06 It should be okay.
02:08 That's my system today.
02:09 I don't argue.
02:11 So, I used to do what I thought was right.
02:15 After doing it, I used to think that if it's not right,
02:19 then if the director doesn't like it, then it's not right.
02:22 If the director is okay with it,
02:24 then there is no greater achievement than that.
02:26 Because they have a story inside them.
02:29 They have thought about every actor.
02:33 In the beginning, they didn't have the power to discuss what was right.
02:39 They didn't do that.
02:41 The role was not complicated.
02:43 Like, Pranab used to have a lot of mannerisms.
02:48 He used to plan for that.
02:52 But that wasn't our situation.
02:54 You didn't plan with Amit sir?
02:56 No, it wasn't like that.
02:58 He didn't have that kind of character.
03:00 So, I used to say what I wanted to say.
03:03 There is a scene in which I laughed a lot.
03:06 In Suryavanshan, I used to say to my elders,
03:11 "What have you done?"
03:13 "You left so much, you did this and that."
03:17 "Look what he has today."
03:20 "People respect you so much, but you don't respect me at all."
03:24 When I did the scene, they wanted the same kind of anger.
03:29 So, I didn't discuss anything.
03:32 After doing it, I might have fumbled once or something.
03:36 After that, they said okay to what I did.
03:39 From there, you get to know your meter.
03:43 Sometimes, you don't put so much effort without talking.
03:47 There are some lines.
03:49 And secondly, the villain was liked to be a little loud.
03:54 It was okay.
03:55 Today's villain has changed.
03:57 Because the hero has also changed.
03:59 Today's villain and hero are not loud.
04:02 So, the hero is also like that.
04:04 So, I started to understand those things.
04:07 So, when they used to do it, they used to say okay.
04:10 Or they used to do it like this, a little higher or a little lower.
04:16 So, we used to understand that.
04:18 So, slowly, we started doing it.
04:22 Sir, have you ever met Bachchan sir?
04:25 Do you discuss about the film 'Suryavansham'?
04:28 And what a wonderful film it was.
04:30 We were doing the last film of 'Suryavansham' together.
04:34 So, there was only one scene of mine and Abhijit.
04:36 We were doing a Telugu film.
04:38 It was the 100th film of Charanjeevi.
04:40 Oh, Megastar.
04:41 Megastar.
04:42 So, in that, in the end, I am with Charanjeevi in a relationship.
04:49 And Abhijit is in the story.
04:51 So, in the end, we are together in one place.
04:55 So, there, I said, sir, our 'Suryavansham' comes a lot.
05:01 He said, yes, man, we are also surprised.
05:03 And everyone has seen it.
05:05 I have seen it, many people have seen it and it is also discussed.
05:08 So, at that time, a little bit was discussed about that film.
05:12 And a little bit, it was more interesting that in the evening,
05:17 in the hotel where Abhijit was, I was also there.
05:19 So, in the evening, many times I used to meet him in the gym.
05:22 So, the gym was there.
05:24 So, in that hotel, I used to do it and he used to do it.
05:28 So, such small things like this, small things like this, happened.
05:32 But there was happiness, no matter how much we used to meet,
05:36 it was fun, there was happiness.
05:39 Sir, you have worked all over the country.
05:42 In the Telugu industry, you have done a lot of films.
05:45 You have worked with Chiranjeevi sir, Ram Charanjeevi, Junior NTR, Mahesh Babu, Ravi Teja,
05:50 all the big names, you have worked with everyone.
05:52 So, sir, you have worked here also, in Bollywood a lot.
05:55 So, sir, the country is one and the same.
05:57 But what is the difference between the work culture and style of both the industries,
06:02 Bollywood and Tollywood, when it comes to making films, the setting, the environment,
06:05 we don't know that.
06:06 You are an engineer.
06:08 You can work in a company in the North and in a company in the South.
06:12 The environment of language is formed when you go to another state.
06:17 Technically, it is the same.
06:19 His two things were much better.
06:22 And he agrees with it.
06:24 His discipline was very good and the timing was very good.
06:28 The shooting used to start on time and the films used to end on time.
06:32 This was his system.
06:34 And sometimes, we used to feel that the film would get late in starting,
06:40 or it would take more time.
06:42 This was a little attitude of that kind.
06:46 It was not like that there.
06:49 So, his discipline did not cause me any trouble.
06:55 And I am not out of the way to adjust.
06:59 Because I am a disciplined man.
07:01 I have to give my body one and a half hour daily.
07:08 For that, I can leave a film, a party.
07:12 All these things are there in me.
07:14 Even today.
07:15 I did not hear much about him.
07:19 After going there, I came to know that the time he used to give me,
07:23 I used to reach on time.
07:24 And the result that came out of it,
07:27 when I came to know that, I got encouraged.
07:31 So, he thought that this actor is very disciplined.
07:35 So, I slowly came to know that he himself is also very disciplined.
07:41 If you call me at 7, you will get the camera on at 7.
07:46 You come.
07:48 And here in Mumbai, it was a little different.
07:50 In Mumbai, the actors used to come a little late.
07:55 That was one thing, but that also did not bother us.
07:58 Because it is not my work, you see.
08:00 But here too, in Bombay, I had one principle.
08:04 It does not matter to me, whether we are of the same level.
08:08 What time you come, it does not matter to me.
08:12 What time you have given me, that's it.
08:14 If you, he says that you come here at 9, I will come at 9.
08:18 Even if you are coming at 10, 10.30, and you are not saying anything,
08:22 I do not have to take it.
08:25 I will do what I am told.
08:27 What happened with that is that I do not have to follow anyone.
08:31 I have to follow my own discipline.
08:33 I do not want you to call me for no reason or say something like that.
08:39 To avoid that, you should not make any mistake.
08:43 It became simple. I made it simple.
08:46 Why should I give you a chance that because of alcohol,
08:49 senior actors are standing and waiting.
08:52 Why should I listen? I do not want to listen.
08:54 So I will come, I will come on time.
08:57 So when I took that thing, when I took the groom from here and reached there,
09:02 the system was like that there.
09:04 But even there, sometimes the actors of Bombay were a little alert,
09:08 that I should not come on time.
09:10 There they felt that it is equal, I will come on time.
09:13 So even today my reputation is the same.
09:16 [Music]