Anupam Kher has completed 40 years in Indian cinema. He began his career with Saaransh in 1984 and has done more than 500 films in multiple languages. He has also dabbled with streaming releases like the one he’s gearing up for- Vijay 69. This Netflix presentation is all set to stream on the OTT giant from November 8. The filmmakers with whom he has worked the most are David Dhawan, Yash Chopra, and Mahesh Bhatt. At 68, he still continues to work in films and run an acting school called Actor Prepares.
Anupam Kher once slapped a journalist and Salman Khan sided by him for his actions. Here’s what happened.
Why Anupam Kher slapped a journalist
Anupam Kher and many other actors of Bollywood were battling yellow journalism where leading magazine Stardust was writing defamatory articles about celebrities, and Kher was one of their victims. He once met that journalist and slapped him across the face.
What Anupam Kher said
The Saaransh actor issued a statement and said, “Today my education, my etiquettes have gone haywire because I slapped a man because he pushed me to the ball. I did three years of training for the National School of Drama, one-year of training for the Indian theatre, and three years I was teaching and then three years I was sleeping on the road.”
Kher added, ” And then eight years of work they want to finish that 20 years of… He has the power of writing in a magazine which sells on lies, which sells on somebody’s bedroom stories.”
When Salman Khan supported Anupam Kher
Salman Khan, in the year 1992, also spoke about the incident and said, “Unhone (Anupam) jo thappad mara hai na, achcha kiya hai jo maara hai.”
He added, “Because yeh jo publicly hume thappad maar rahe hai, jo humari jo image hai, jo hum nahi hai, ghalat image jo portray karrahe hai, it’s worse than someone slapping us. If you tell one lie 100 times, people will start believing that.”
Anupam Kher on his Bollywood journey
In an interview with Firstpost, the actor spoke about his journey in films and said, “You continue to explore your horizons as an actor as you make your job difficult. I’m not one of those who’s going to be happy with whatever he has achieved. It’s not greed but trying to see what all you’re capable of. It’s only when you reach your 60s, you come to know the kind of person you are.”
The veteran added, “I like the way I’ve dealt with my life. I also don’t allow other people to decide what my limits are. I think human capabilities are limitless. You can achieve anything if you’re not worried about failure. It’s the fear of failure that stops us from finding our capabilities.”
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