Sharat Saxena: The Hunk Who Became A Henchman

Brut India

You have seen him play the villain in countless films. But he thinks people don't notice tough guys who get thrashed by the hero. This is Sharat Saxena shedding his anonymity.

Transcript

00:00But yeah, unfortunately, I looked up I would do a lot of action work the role of a chumcha of a villain

00:06There's enough beating. I finally learned to do a little bit of acting also

00:18You see every director wants his hero to beat up tough-looking guys

00:24They don't want them to

00:27Beat up somebody who doesn't look tough

00:30And unfortunately, I looked up

00:32In those days, I looked extra tough

00:36There were no redeeming grace in my face in those days

00:40And I was dark because I used to roam around on a scooter so whenever I would go to meet a producer or a director

00:49They would tell me okay you come tomorrow we've got an action scenes going on and

00:54It'll be nice to have you Indian audience is like any other audience in the world

00:58they want a good-looking guy to be the hero a good-looking girl to be the heroine and

01:04A nasty looking character to be the villain and that is where I used to come. I

01:09Would be doing those roles of the henchmen or the

01:16The gangster the guy who was out and picks a fight with the with the hero and gets a beaten up

01:28Of course I had second thoughts about this career many times many times I

01:37Did not have the resources to fall back on

01:44See it was like the people who can go back

01:48Leave the film industry and go back home are the people who?

01:54Have this option

01:58I

02:03Was expected to become an engineer or a doctor, but I wanted to be an actor and so I asked my father

02:10That can I join the Pune film Institute?

02:12And he said no you have to become an engineer first, and then whatever you feel like doing you do it

02:17The

02:26Main actors they their dangerous work is done by

02:32Body doubles or duplicates as you used to call them earlier, but in my case that was not an option

02:40Because my role was not so important. I was expected to do everything myself because

02:46As I said I was

02:49Well built and willing to take the risk both my biceps have been ripped off in fights I

02:57Left hand wrist was shattered in one action sequence

03:00I once had a thumb that was not working because I had been chained to a I'd been chained in us in a shot and

03:07It hurt my body color this tendon here, and then

03:11I've been kicked by a horse and once I jumped onto a moving car

03:15In a film called oxy killing it the car was coming at me at around 50 60 kilometers an hour, and I jumped on it

03:22Shattered the wood skeel in my head and my shoulder and each time you do a stunt like this

03:29You learn something and you you get a few scars

03:32I've got a lot of scars

03:41I

03:42People used to look at me say the fighter got it. They would not call me because how poor

03:47Actors are I know a fighter that is a fighter at least. I got the recognition

03:59I have not done too many good roles

04:02But one good role that I did was villain

04:05as a Rana Singh

04:07that was a

04:08That is a good meaty role at the age of I think

04:1350 52 I got the role of an old man and

04:17People started thinking of me as an actor instead of a fighter that he was a film

04:22made by Shad Ali

04:24With the vehicle Roy and Rani Mukherjee in which I played the role of Rani Mukherjee's father

04:29I remember meeting a few people on the road, and they said that you remind me of their father

04:35That is a nice compliment

04:42My career has taken its own pace

04:45It's a very slow pace, but then I don't mind it because at least it gave me employment

04:51For for 50 years. I think I've done it pretty well

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