I feel underutilized as an actor: Sanjay Suri

Over the past weekend, Sanjay Suri flew to and fro Assam. His bilingual film created a minor row in the flood-troubled state and he had to be there to sort things out.

I feel underutilized as an actor: Sanjay Suri

However, this incident brought to light the obscure fact that the actor-producer is actively involved with regional as well as independent films. His presence in Bollywood leaves much to desire for. But he’s quite content with his own space. In a tête-à-tête with CS, the actor who’s self-admittedly a graduate of ‘Natural School of Drama’ speaks about career, creativity and cinema:

Who: Sanjay Suri
What: On films and more
Pic/ Raj Suri

Promotional Feature/Editor: Janhavi Samant

Underutilised, not underrated
As an actor, I feel underutilized but that’s okay. I understood long time back that if opportunities aren’t coming, you might as well create them. That’s also one of the reasons why I love making films. Moreover, I’m inherently a secure kind of a guy. In this industry, you have to choose within your offers.

A phone call away
I haven’t quit mainstream films. I recently did a cameo in Heroine. The thing about commercial films is they seem to be designed on excel sheets instead of scripts! Having said that, I feel whatever body of work I have is enough to make me feel proud but I’d love to work with others. I’m just a phone call away (laughs).

Holding a megaphone?
The thought of becoming a director does cross my mind but I don’t see myself as one. At least not as of now. It’s too much of a responsibility. Acting serves me well and vice versa. Producing a film has its own kicks so I’m happy doing that.

Independent streak
A lot of positive things are happening in this space but distribution and programming is where a project gets stuck. In the last six-seven years, I’ve learnt that you can make a film cheap but you can’t release cheap. This is also why the definition of independent cinema is skewed nowadays. Even studio-backed films have started calling themselves independent.

Raising the bar
I don’t follow anyone blindly but I believe Naseeruddin Shah is the best in our field. I love the kind of work Manoj Bajpayee and Nawaz are doing. Among the younger lot, I admire Ranbir for raising the bar.

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