Not Just Bollywood | Vivek Oberoi on Dharavi Bank: ‘OTT is a fertile bed and there is honesty in storytelling’

In an EXCLUSIVE interview with Firstpost, actor Vivek Oberoi shares his experience of working with actor Sunil Shetty. He says that he got to experience Dharavi only because he was a part of Dharavi Bank.  On mingling with the people of Dhravi, Vivek realized, that selflessness is more prevalent strangely in places where there isn’t enough. There is more abundance in their hearts as compared to the so-called upper crust of our society. He believes that somewhere down the line there has been an untruthfulness in the intent of Bollywood.

Edited excerpts from the interview:

On Dharavi, the place and its people…

Dharavi Bank shows a lot of Dharavi. Samit Kakkad has been able to do that because he has had his feet on the ground in Dharavi. He has been there and known people. I remember being there with Samit for the shoot and so many people would just walk up to him and ask how are you doing? It is only after so many years of friendship with the people and the place that you get to see that kind of bonding. I remember there was one old lady and Samit just went to him and asked if he could help him in clearing out the road. I remember this old lady just took her danda and started swigging it and all the kids and people on the streets just ran away. So, it became easy for us to shoot. They dispersed in seconds. So, it was fascinating to see these characters there. The ability to blend fiction with reality is what makes you believe in the environment. I got to experience Dharavi the way I have never experienced before.

In between shots during breaks people would invite me to their homes. I would sit there and have a meal with them. Their houses were spic and span. But outside the homes of the people, the infrastructure was very poor. There were barely proper roads, there were gutter, puddles. But inside their houses their kholis were pretty well maintained.

There was an old lady from the Kumhar community who made pottery. She came up to me and invited me to her home for a meal and on the last day of the shoot when I said bye to her, she gave me a bag full of diyas and when I wanted to pay her, she refused to take it. She said that it is a gift for me with love. The beauty and warmth of that place made me believe that this is possible only in India. It made me realise that selflessness is more prevalent strangely in places where there isn’t enough. There is more abundance in their hearts as compared to the so-called upper crust of our society.

Preparation for your role in Dharavi Bank

I had a lot of fun working with Samit Kakkad. He is just a fantastic talent. He came to me with a lot of depth in the story line. I sat with the creative team and got involved in it. How I wanted to do this character differently was it was like a ticking time bomb. The character the way he looks is with a lot of simmering intensity. You don’t realise what he is thinking or calculating and how he is going to manipulate the situation. But you know that somewhere in his heart, you know that what he wants to achieve is pure. He is a committed man and an honest officer, so I wanted to approach it from that perspective and wanted to create him to be this very strong, solid IPS officer. That was fascinating about the character.

On the physical side I wanted him to look real and a little bulky and strong. I actually wanted him to look like a guy who used to work out a lot when he had free days. I wanted him to look like a tough guy, but real. I think for me it was a lot about how to create a mental process that reflects in your eye because in most characters you get to verbalise it and put the thought into words, but this character speaks more with his eyes. That was the difficult part. There were not many lines for my character. Then there was the human pain and we need to admit that no matter how much power a person has there is pain in everybody’s life and he too had that pain hiding deep inside him. And what is that pain that haunts him and how do you show it in the character was the difficult part for me.

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Working with Sunil Shetty?

Oh! I really love him. It’s a very old relationship, when I was a student and I remember my father was working with Anna (Sunil Shetty) on the sets and meeting him for the first time. He was a very impressive tough guy. He is one of those lovely committed people. I remember him sharing his elixir of jari buti that he used to make and he made a glass for me. I couldn’t get through two sips and he just sipped on that bitter juice. But I remember that sweet gesture. Those are the little things that make you remember people. I personally feel Dharavi is his best performance so far.

How much of the OTT boom has helped the actors?

Tremendously. It is a great ground and a fertile bed that is recognizing talents. It is such a democratic system that if you built a good product, no matter who the faces are, people come out and see it and the validity of it is massive. We have seen Scam 1992 reaching out to so many people. On OTT there is a certain honesty in the story telling.

Why is Bollywood losing its swag?

I don’t know if it is losing or not, but if you are not making content which people like or resonate with, it can get rejected overnight. You are not even seeing the opening of some Bollywood films and people are rejecting it on the trailer level and that to me is a good sign for the industry because every industry needs a correction, a mirror that you cannot take fans for granted.

I remember when I first became an actor, my father told me pointing out to my fans, “You see these people, they are who make you. You are nobody without them.” That respect must be mutual. When I go out for shoots, I tell myself that I am doing it for the audience and I must do it with honesty. Failure of a film or show is not in our hands, but the process of working and putting in all your efforts is what matters and it shows in the end product. The result is not what matters, but the intent matters. I feel that somewhere there has been an untruthfulness in the intent of Bollywood. And that is reflected in the result.

In OTT there is no boxing of characters into heroes and heroines, what do you have to say about this change?

I think this is something that used to be there, but we just lost it along the way. It became too egocentric and it became too much about one persona. If you go back to even the days of Sholay, you will realise that there were so many characters and each and every role was important. People remembered Gabbar, Thakur, Veeru, Jai, Radha, Basanti, Sambah – each and every character for their performance.