Speaking with Subhash K Jha the talented Amol Parashar about his performance in Amazon’s Gram Chikitsalaya and also reveals what is coming next.
Your series Gram Chikitsalaya raised the very relevant issue of rural healthcare. How involved were you in the theme?
From what I know, Deepak Mishra and Arunabh Kumar had been working on this idea for the last few years. Under their guidance, Vaibhav Suman and Shreya Srivastava had developed a screenplay and characters, bringing the world of Bhatkandi to life. Rahul Pandey, who is a writer too, came in with his own suggestions after he joined the project as a director. So the theme and overarching material was already in place when I joined as an actor. Of course, the quality of the material and the appeal of the theme makes you more attracted towards the project. But I won’t say I have any contribution in the ideation process, except for some minor details of my character, Prabhat, and a truthful portrayal of the vision of all these people.
Did the constant comparison to Panchayat annoy you? Didn’t you think it was unfair?
It was bound to happen and expected. It’s strange, and kind of sad, that as soon as we see a story based in a village, Panchayat comes up as a comparative point. While that speaks of the immense popularity of Panchayat, and rightfully so, it may not be a very logical deduction. When the majority of our country lives in villages, we should have a similar majority of stories that represent those lives, their struggles, and insights from different angles and genres. But I guess people are not used to it, yet. Since we are used to watching stories based in Mumbai and Delhi and other metros, we never ask, oh, another story from Mumbai, iss mein kya naya hoga? I think people will stop asking this about rural stories soon.
I think Gram Chikitsalaya is in some ways superior to Panchayat?
We were aware that this will happen but it was never going to deter our conviction and belief in this particular story. After the first few days of confusion, when people didn’t know whether to expect a Panchayat or something similar to it, the show GC has now slowly found its audience. After 2-3 days, people started watching it for what it is, because the show has a personality of its own. A large number of people have identified that uniqueness, and now the word of mouth has completely changed the show’s perception.
How do you look at your career’s trajectory so far? Are you pleased with the journey so far?
I am quite pleased with the kind of opportunities that have come my way so far, and I have tried to make the most of them as well. As long as I have something new and creative to look forward to, I am happy and satisfied as an actor.
Which among your performances do you consider to the game changers?
Thankfully, I have had 2-3 even in the short career that I have had so far. Chitvan definitely will be on the list, because it didn’t just change the game, it actually kickstarted the game for me. Playing Osman in Dolly Kitty and playing Bhagat Singh in Sardar Udham Singh were very precious experiences, and I am glad people also started seeing me in a different light through each of those. The last two releases Gram Chikitsalaya and Kull: The Legacy Of The Raisingghs have also generated a lot of buzz and love, so definitely will change the game for me now. How much the game changes, I’ll find out over the next 2-3 months.
As an outsider, does it anger you when star kids with not even an iota of your talent get plum roles?
More than anger, it was a little confusing in the beginning. Because you hear so much about talent and craft in interviews and round tables, but then you don’t see business decisions following that criterion. It was a little bewildering, especially when those decisions didn’t even lead to great results, whether creatively or financially. I hold no personal grudges, and I prefer to live my life that way — if it’s your money, you get to decide what to bet on and who to bet on. But I genuinely believe that if we gave a little more importance to acting craft while making decisions, our stories would turn out so much better. I think our audience knows good from bad, and if we want to bring them back to our stories, we need to give them what they deserve: honesty, craft, and hard work. Being lazy in storytelling and decision making is cheating the same audience, whose love you seek.
What are your forthcoming projects?
I have a film called Nausikhiye, a madcap comedy, that I am pretty excited about and looking forward to. There is a romantic comedy with Tanya Maniktala that should also be out this year. Meanwhile, I have just started performing my solo performance piece Besharam Aadmi and I plan to do at least fifty shows of it this year, across cities.
Do you enjoy the freedom of articulation provided by the OTT?
More than freedom, for me personally, the range of stories, genres, and characters the platform has opened is exciting. The nature of stories has definitely widened, and therefore, there is also interesting work to do for me and many like me, whether in acting, writing, or direction. Some strong and unique voices have been discovered through this medium. It seems that a little formula thinking might be emerging even in OTT, but I also do notice that once in a while, a clutter-breaking show or film is emerging and breaking all formulas.
