There is a popular saying that life doesn't offer you second chances. But in the case of Sanjay Mehandiratta, who played the Pakistani president Zarwari in the Ranveer Singh-led Dhurandhar franchise, it really did. "I tried my hand at modelling in my 20s, but had to switch to a secure job as I hail from a middle-class family. But the acting keeda (bug) kept gnawing at me since then. When an opportunity presented itself, I jumped on it," says Sanjay, adding that life presented him with Gadar 2, Black Warrant and Dhurandhar in return. Expressing his gratitude for the opportunities that are coming his way, Mehandiratta approaches each new role with a sense of gratitude and a determination to make every opportunity count.
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Your filmography has you playing a person of authority more often than not. Coincidence?
Directors mostly see me as someone more suited for roles like this. They see me as someone on top of the food chain. In fact, I first auditioned for an underworld don in Lyari. The team then thought I would suit Zardari's role better. So there is no plan of sorts.
You played a popular politician, whose personal side is shown in the film. How much improvisation went into those spaces?
Aditya's team did extensive research that helped me a lot. I had to do the 'emotional work' on my part. I had to read between the lines. With politicians, it is always the optics. As humans, we have the tendency to grade people on the basis of their use to you. Zarwari side-stepped Hamza first when the latter was a mere bodyguard to Rahman Dakait (Akshaye Khanna). When Hamza rises in prominence and sits as an equal to my character to decide on the future of Karachi and Lyari, you impulsively know how to react. Also, with the closed-door meetings, we need to employ our imagination. As an actor, you know it when you are about to be "intellectually submerged". That's when you stop, rely on instinct, use material you have and roll with it.
Like Zarwari, Hamza and Aslam too behave differently from their nature.
Hamza and Chaudhary Aslam (Sanjay Dutt) are not diplomats, but they understand diplomacy. They put a leash on their inner monsters when meeting the nation's president. Ranveer did a tremendous job as Hamza/Jaskirat. Ranveer, as a performer, is vivacious and full of energy, and he plays Hamza, someone who is the direct opposite, a restrained person with so much brewing on the inside. Sanju Baba, for his age, carries as much aggression with a swag as Aslam. It was great to share the screen with such powerhouse performers.
Tell us the make-believing part of a bunch of Indians playing Pakistanis as though they were living there forever.
Truth be told, there is not much difference between Indians and Pakistanis. Yeah, after 1947, the kind of regimes both nations had created cultural differences and the way we react to things. But I had to master the Talaffuz (pronunciation). We needed to speak more Urdu words with a Punjabi accent; that was a non-negotiable. We had a very smart team led by Aditya guiding us.
With voices for bringing runtime to two hours emboldening after Covid and reduced attention span, it is bold of Aditya Dhar to present a combined runtime of almost eight hours.
It is only possible for someone like Aditya, who is both calm and confident, to go against the wave. A chaotic person getting tensed easily cannot pull this off. The decision to go with the long runtime is a bold one, which only happens after the shoot. Many of his decisions on set were similar. Once before the shot, the ramp, which was important for the scene, collapsed, and there was hullabaloo on the sets. But Aditya walked in, he asked everyone to relax, came up with a solution and left as if nothing had happened. His coolheadedness was what gave him the courage to flout the popular sentiment of compact runtime, risking the footfall and the concomitant collections.
Appreciations aside, the film has evoked debates about patriotism and jingoism. Where do you draw the line between these terms?
The first thing I would like to tell you about this debate is that you don't treat Dhurandhar as a history lesson. It is a fictional story. Also, who decides what is patriotism and what is jingoism? Both these terms are subjective. Aditya Dhar has made the film with his perspective on patriotism. Criticisms are most welcome; that is what makes us a vibrant democracy. All kinds of varied, contradicting opinions need to be voiced. Artistic expression and criticism should coexist. That is a healthy democracy. It is in countries like North Korea, with a single leader and a single party, where people cannot have a different opinion, that something drastically has gone wrong. In India, Dhurandhar can be made, and it can win applause and receive criticisms.
What are your upcoming projects? Do you still have an appetite for Dhurandhar-like roles?
My two upcoming films are totally different from what you have seen in Dhurandhar. My immediate next film is Wives by Madhur Bhandarkar. The film is about the wives of Bollywood stars and a peek into their personal spaces. I have signed a Telugu film as well, about which I couldn't reveal much at this stage. I am equally excited about both the films, as I am stepping out of the stern officer-like zone.