Veteran actor, writer and director Kader Khan died at the age of 81 at a hospital in Canada. Here are excerpts from his interview with Lehren on how he got his first big break in Bollywood.
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00:00About 23-24 years ago, a drama of mine became very famous in those days, Local Train.
00:11In which I got the award of Best Writer, Best Actor, Best Director.
00:16And in those days, late Mr. Narendra Bedi came to me backstage and said that
00:24I am making a film, Jawaani Diwaani, in which Randhir Kapoor and Jaya Bachchan are there.
00:32Jaya Bahadur was there at that time.
00:34He said, I want you to write the dialogues of that film.
00:37I said, I don't know how to write the dialogues.
00:40He said, we know how to make you write the dialogues, because you have been a playwright, you write dramas.
00:48The next day he called me to his office, gave me the script in his hand,
00:52and said, this is the scene, you write it.
00:55I went from there, I didn't have any place to write.
00:59I took the train and went to the Marine Drive.
01:02And people were playing football on the cross field, so I sat on the side and started writing the dialogues.
01:06So sometimes the football used to come in between and hit me.
01:09And I used to get hurt by the football and used to write the dialogues.
01:14The work was done in 3 hours, I reached back to Bandra.
01:17So he was shocked to see me, that I gave work to a fool, he has come to ask again.
01:21I asked him, did you ask me to write the dialogues?
01:25He said, yes, I wrote it.
01:28So writing the dialogues in 3 hours, this has never happened before.
01:33So when I recited it to him, and the way he praised me,
01:38he hugged me from his chest.
01:41Giving that praise and hugging him from his chest,
01:44became a way of my life, which has brought me here.
01:47If that day he would have rejected me or not given me a response,
01:52then I would have been exiled from there.
01:55So learn one thing in life, that if any artist does a good work,
02:01then you should react and praise him.
02:05I learned this lesson in life.
02:08And all the good directors I met on the way,
02:11they always praised my work and encouraged me.
02:14If I made a mistake, they used to scold me.
02:17Learning from them, I reached here.
02:20In my childhood, I used to copy others.
02:24I used to see anyone on the way.
02:27If I used to meet a strange person, who had a different way of speaking,
02:31I used to copy him.
02:34Sometimes I used to copy my friends, they used to clap.
02:38So a person is hungry for response.
02:40My mother used to tell me to go and offer prayers.
02:44I used to bunk my prayers.
02:47I used to stand somewhere and act and tell people.
02:50People used to praise me and I used to be very happy.
02:53But when I used to come home, I used to get caught.
02:56If I didn't offer prayers, I used to get beaten.