On the sets of SUR

          The award-winning singer is back on centre stage. This time as an actor. And those who have seen the rushes of the star-studded Kaante insist that Lucky Ali will be a revelation. On the sets of his second film, Sur too, picturising a song, Lucky was amazingly at ease even though his white suit was clinging damply to him and lunch break had been postponed by almost an hour. He got his moves right, first time, but still wanted a retake if he thought he could give a better shot. He hummed along and actually played the flute and strummed the violin under his chin. It was a virtuoso performance, unbelievably so, and prompted the first query:

Watching you on stage one got the impression that you weren’t too comfortable being in the spotlight. But today, observing you shoot for Sur, one is amazed to see just how uninhibited and unselfconscious you are when facing a movie camera. You really seem to be enjoying yourself.                       (Smiling) Yes, I’m having a good time. This is a wonderful crew and the director, Tanuja Chandra is absolutely the best. The production company, Pritish Nandy Communications is also great. The vibes are very positive. I know they like me and I like them. The role’s very challenging too. So it is not all that difficult for me to enjoy my work.

You’d earlier acted in films like Umesh Mehra’s Hamare Tumhare, your father, Mehmood’s Yeh Zindagi Hai, Shyam Benegal’s Trikaal and Bharat Ek Khoj before you took a long break. How different and difficult is acting this time?
Well, this time I’m playing principal characters so the responsibility is more. Earlier, I was just starting out and the roles were small. I wasn’t getting the kind of work I like to do. And I didn’t want to have to make a living doing the regular commercial films so I went away. I did everything from carpet cleaning to horse breeding and farming. It’s been a good life.

It’s not easy convincing you to do a film. How did Tanuja Chandra get you to give the nod to Sur?
(Smiling) I didn’t want to do the film. I thought the role was too difficult for me to be able to do justice to it. So I suggested other actors. I told Tanuja to take Kamal Haasan. Instead, she challenged me to do the film and prove that I was a good actor too. “Be yourself,” she urged. “And you’ll be fine.” Tanuja’s been a pillar of strength. It’s a teacher-student relationship.

That’s interesting considering you are playing a teacher in the film too.
It’s a cycle. All teachers are necessarily students and all students unwittingly become teachers. This role is all about learning, growing, teaching and through the experience learning more about yourself.

But apparently you are not the ideal teacher in Sur and go to the extent of suppressing the creativity of your best student.
Yeah, the character I’m playing in Sur does something you wouldn’t expect of him. It stems from insecurity, the man-woman equation. His ego comes between him and this girl who he’s always encouraged to grow. It spoils things between them but then he realises that every one of us has to move ahead. He admits to himself that what he’s done is not right and goes back to helps the girl express herself the way he had set out to do. It’s a beautiful story...

Has anyone ever tried to hold you back?
Not really, the man in Sur is not me though there are times when I’ve argued with Tanuja, telling her I don’t feel that way. “You don’t have to because it’s not you, it’s Vikram Aditya Singh,” she’d remind me.

But surely the film must dredge up some memories of those early years when you were trying to sell Sunoh and had music companies slamming the door on your face?
That was a different experience altogether. The trials of an individual struggler who wanted to do something in life. He knew he had the talent, the material, he only needed to find someone who’d believe in him. Sur is not so much about struggle as about conscience. It’s about right and wrong.

One would expect you to not just act and sing in the film but compose the music too. But MM Kreem is the film’s music director.
Look, if Tanuja had asked me I would have done the music since I’m singing the songs. But I wouldn’t have achieved what Kreem has. I have never been taught music. I only sing about how I feel.

How do you feel singing songs composed by someone else?
(Shrugs) If they’re good songs I like it. It’s the same seven notes.

After shying away from acting for so long you’ve suddenly accepted a number of films.
(Frowning) I have?

Well, there’s Bobby Khan’s Kya Main Ab Bhi Tumse Pyar Karta Hoon with Raveena Tandon and Lisa Ray.
I don’t know if I’m doing that film or not. We’ve finished the music but the shooting’s still to start. I also have no idea what Aditya Bhattacharya is doing about his film, Avatar. And I’m no longer in Dev Anand’s Love In Times Square. So that leaves only Sur and Kaante.

What are you doing in Sanjay Gupta’s multi-starrer Kaante?
I’m playing a criminal. I’m one of the bank robbers, the film’s sutradhar. I tell everyone’s stories and my own too. It’s an interesting role. Sanjay Dutt and Sanjay Gupta are my buddies. I’ve known Sanju (Sanjay Dutt) since we were kids. He was making a movie and there was no way I couldn’t not be a part of it. He and Sanjay Gupta kept telling me, “Kar le yaar.” So I did Kaante even though at the time I had no plans of being an actor. What I wanted to do was make an international album. But Kaante has been fun. We were a bunch of mad guys...monkeys. We had a blast!

Talking of blasts what was it like being in America and watching the world crumble around you?
The world didn’t crumble for me. I’ve heard that a lot of the other stars had problems following the attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon, but I had made some good friends in America and they went out of their way to make sure my family and I were comfortable despite knowing we belonged to a particular community. I like Americans. They’re so gullible and ignorant about a lot of things and that makes them very endearing. The blasts and the devastation that followed was something no one could have predicted but God willed this to happen, he allowed it. So though I was shocked and sad by the events unfolding in front of my eyes, I knew it was something beyond my control and concentrated on working hard through those six weeks. At the end of it I was yearning to be back home. On my evenings and days off I’d take my wife and family to the beach or to Disney Land. We’d have lots of fun and could momentarily forget what was happening around us. Though like everyone else I saw the buildings going down, the violence was in a way far removed from us so that it didn’t really touch our lives. If there is something that I learnt from the American attacks it is that it’s time for us to move ahead. Our elders have been guiding us all these years. Now it is time they relaxed and handed the reins over to us.

Given the chance what kind of a world would you build?
First, before I change anything I’ll have to change myself. I’m practical and sensitive which are assets and I know I’d allow for a lot of growth. Where politics is concerned, I believe I can be quite diplomatic and have a talent for calming frayed nerves. (Thoughtfully) I don’t know exactly what I’d do but besides talking I’d listen a lot too. That’s important when something like the Babri Masjid controversy is rearing its ugly head again.

What’s your opinion on the issue of the Babri Masjid?
In Islam we’re told not to insult anyone’s religion because out of ignorance you could insult God. Going by my sketchy knowledge of history, Babar didn’t bring Islam to India. It had made inroads since the time of the Prophet. Babar was only an invader who was drawn to our country for its riches and the masjid itself isn’t of any great historical significance. There are only three great mosques, the ones in Mecca, Madina and Jerusalem, that are important to all Muslims. More than the Babri Masjid where there has been no praying for a long time, we should be more concerned with the country we were born in because that was what the Prophet preached. We are a 50 million strong community and over the years we’ve become isolated from the mainstream. Post September 11, 2001 it’s time for the community to introspect. I’m an Indian who has a Muslim father and a grandmother who came from Rabindranath Tagore’s family. So not only can I empathise with my Muslim brothers, I can also urge my Hindu brothers not to treat the Muslims with such deep suspicious and hold it against them for being here. It’s time for us to get together and do all that is necessary for the country to move ahead, not rake up an issue that is centuries old.

For all your wander lust it seems like India is home to you more than New Zealand where you frequently dash off to.
New Zealand’s nice but it is not India. There’s no place quite like India. It’s home. But not Mumbai, even though I was born and grew up here. Then we had acres of land. Now Mumbai has so little space and so many people. Instead of spreading out it’s closing up. Also my mother doesn’t live here any more so Mumbai is lost to me. I come here for work and hurry away as fast as I can.

You don’t look like you hate Mumbai right now?
That’ because Banganga where we’re shooting today doesn’t feel like the city. It’s so beautiful here with all the swans, these gentle people living their normal lives and a pond where I can go swimming. It reminds me of South India.

Your father has a farm in Bangalore, doesn’t he?
Yeah, it’s wonderful there. He owes a few horses, they’re great creatures. Someday I want to get back to horse breeding which was my initial vocation. I have horses, sheep, cows, chicken, ducks, pigeons and fowl on my farm. We grow all vegetables and have orchards of mangoes, chikoo, papayas, jamuns and lots of coconut trees. Also fields of banana, rice and wheat. We grow everything. I enjoy farming. (Holds out his hand) See, this is a farmer’s hand. Even my music comes from those wide, open spaces. It’s while I’m tilling my fields or working my animals that a tune suddenly plays in my head and a song is born.

Given your fondness for horses would you ever want to do a western?
A Hindi film western? That might be fun. Right now I’m enjoying this new career of mine. I didn’t go looking for it. Acting just happened. Films fell in my lap. But I know I’m only a temporary artiste. I’m still looking for my true calling.

Why are you constantly running away from a career in Hindi films, be it in playback singing or acting?
I am not running away from anyone or anything. It’s just that I don’t want to get caught up with regular commercial films. There’s more to life than that.

You once said that commercial Hindi cinema can desensitise you. Why does it put you off?
That’s because I don’t think the film industry taps all the talent and capabilities available to it in the best possible way. Hindi commercial cinema is a proposal system. It’s not that I’m against proposals but they should have some substance. Here mostly they are a waste of time. Thank God both my films, Kaante and Sur, are different. They are both very now.

You were named Lucky by your father because you proved lucky for him. You also proved lucky for Hrithik Roshan and Kaho Naa...Pyar Hai. Has the name been lucky for you too personally?
What do you think? Personally, I don’t understand this luck business. I understand work. I believe that if you work honestly your work will speak for itself. Lucky is my pet name. For my father it was more of an endearment. And if I’ve proved lucky for Guddu(Rakesh Roshan ) and Hrithik then I’m happy.

After Kaho Naa...Pyar Hai just about every producer wanted you to sing for every actor. But you turned them all down and disappeared. Why?
I don’t mind singing for anybody but I have to be convinced about the project. I don’t just want to make a career in Hindi film playback.

Did the awards you won for Kaho Naa...Pyar Hai make any difference?
(Shrugs) I work for satisfaction, not awards. They didn’t make me happy or unhappy either. At the time I didn’t have the time to come and go and collect them personally.

A fellow singer was very upset when you won the award for Best Male Playback Singer last year for Ek pal ka jeena.... He felt you didn’t deserve it because you weren’t really a singer.
(Smiling) I’m not a singer or an actor. It’s true that this is not my field. And I think now I’ll leave the field clear for him. I want to help people resolve the bigger issues and not get caught up in petty controversies.

From Sunoh and Sifar to Aks, Kaho Naa..Pyar Hai and Sur, your music has been changing with every new album and every new film.
It has. As a child you are born dependent, then you become interdependent and later independent. The cycle repeats itself in music too. The films I did for my father were dependent. My albums, Sunoh, Sifar and Aks were independent ventures. Kaho Naa...Pyar Hai and now Sur are interdependent.

Your first composition was ‘Nobody loves me...’Was it reflective of your state of mind at the time?
(Smiling wryly) It was reflective of my childhood. After my parents divorced I actually got a lot of love from everyone but it was never enough for me. There were seven of us and I wanted all the love for myself. And when I didn’t get it all I composed this song about how nobody loved me. It was so childish but I was a child then.

But later you were also quoted saying that the concept of a home and family was not for you. Yet today, you seem well entrenched in your farm, living happily with your two wives and children.
Life’s not a bed of roses, but yes I think I’ve been able to find my niche. That’s because I’m flexible, able to adjust easily. I like balance. I like people, being around them. God’s given me a lot. I wouldn’t want more. In fact, now I’m afraid he’ll take it all away from me someday soon. If that happens I hope and pray I have the strength to bear with the loss.

When you married a second time you said your wife Inaya gave you back your youth...
(Frowning darkly) I never said that. My second wife may be younger to me by a few years but it isn’t as if I’m 70 and she is 20. She was just someone I met and liked. Inaya is a good girl and we took to each other instantly. I didn’t want to just have a fling. I was willing to marry her and take on the additional responsibility. So I spoke to my first wife about it and things worked out for the best.

It certainly has. I believe both your wives live amicably together under the same roof.
No, they don’t live together. I maintain two separate households and divide my time between my two wives and children. They’re both lovely girls, intelligent, with a lot of head space. There’s never a dull moment when I’m with them. We’re all learning something new all the time and lead separate lives. In fact, I like both my wives to do their own stuff. Inaya is very artistic. She enjoys stitching and wood carving...

What were the reactions to your second marriage?
Many told me that I couldn’t afford a second marriage. But then, could I even afford the first one? God takes care of all that. You only have to be convinced you’re doing the right thing. And I was never shy or ashamed of taking on another wife. In this profession I have to travel a lot and I can’t be going everywhere with my family. I knew that could be a problem because I’m a gregarious person. I make friends easily and I just can’t say “no” to people. So I have a tendency to get into trouble. If I had someone with me all the time I could be steered away from trouble. I think it was a wise decision marrying Inaya. And I’ve tried to be as fair as possible to both my wives.