After spending decades in the film industry, Shekhar Suman has now opened his own film academy in Mumbai. The actor believes it is important for newcomers to learn from experience, especially at a time when many young actors feel lost and directionless while entering the industry.
Speaking exclusively to Filmfare about the vision behind the academy, Shekhar Suman shared that he now sees this phase of his life as a way of giving back.
“When you have accumulated enough experience, you feel that it has to be passed on, especially to the newcomers who are a little lost, misguided and misinformed. They don’t know where to go or where to get the right information. Teaching is the noblest profession.”
The actor, whose debut film Utsav became a major breakthrough in his career, also spoke about how impatient the newer generation of actors has become. According to him, many young aspirants today want instant success without understanding the amount of time and struggle the craft demands.
“The newer lot is in too much of a hurry to achieve too soon. So the first thing I teach them is patience. Everything doesn’t happen overnight. Sometimes it could take six months, sometimes even a year,” he explained.
Shekhar Suman also expressed concern over what he feels is a decline in language and speech among younger actors today. “One thing that really drove me to this was that the new set of actors has lost touch with language. Their speech is corrupted. They can’t speak good Hindi. Urdu is a long way off. Even their English is not so good. They speak only colloquial language. But when you play characters, there has to be a certain degree of purity and accuracy in what you say. I would really like to lay emphasis on speech and acting in this academy,” he said.
When asked whether insecurity and ego have become more common in the industry today, the actor admitted that the environment has become increasingly toxic and competitive.
“There’s a term called schadenfreude, which means people revel in other people’s misfortunes. Reverse it, and it becomes freudenschade, which means you become unhappy seeing somebody else happy. I think we are living in very toxic times. People have become very intolerant towards each other. They have become very jealous,” he said.
Calling the film industry deeply competitive, Shekhar added, “This is an industry that reeks of jealousy. They cannot stand each other. The hypocrisy where they hug each other, kiss each other, and then stab each other in the back at the first instance… It’s very sad. But that’s the way it is because the stakes are very high.”
However, he also acknowledged that there are still good people in the industry who continue to uphold its legacy. “There are still a few good people and that’s how the industry survives. We are still very proud of our Indian film industry. This is an industry that has seen Dilip saab, Dev Anand, Raj Kapoor, Guru Dutt and Amitabh Bachchan. We are very proud of that legacy,” he concluded.
Meanwhile, Shekhar Suman is making a comeback to the late-night conversation format, with his show Shekhar Tonite.
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