SHIKHA DUGGAL
Grab some popcorn because Sharib Hashmi’s new movie will make you hungry. The movie Tarla is celebrating and analysing so much about food in ways that can make the audience’s mouth water or equally turn their stomachs.
Exploring the impact of food and some cultural importance that the original renowned chef and cookbook author Tarla Dalal brought, we speak to the seasoned actor.
Together with, he gets down to, “The dubbing session was the most memorable bit during the shoot of Tarla. Not everyone knows this, but I am without a question a foodie so this film was an icing on the cake. I was ingesting and only ingesting. There was a song sequence for which, I am not even kidding, partake of fourteen plates of ‘ragada patties’. But my director says I am being very dishonest — because he claims to have it more than me (he laughed).”
As such, we use cult in the loosest sense of the word but when it comes to this determined actor, he never settled into the bland rut of the A-list movie stars. And, that’s what was so quite visible when we were having a video interaction with The Family Man fame. He called up when he was shooting for slumdog millionaire, he never aspired to be a full blown actor. He was a very prominent part of channel V during those times!
He clarified time and again that he had no ambitions of becoming an actor. The first time he got noticed by a major fan base was the project called Filmistan! That’s when the whole dynamics for this actor really changed in his life. “Life has changed for the good. I have been competing really hard in this industry. Ab lagta hai mehnat vasool huyi hai,” he added.
There was also a time in his life, possibly another major reason he never got disposed towards this profession earlier was apparently his shortcoming of not being tall enough. He started to imagine that he’ll never be able to fit into the gamut of “heroes”. But another unknown fact revealed by the actor was that his father was a film journalist — so in any case he already became a part of the entertainment industry by attending so many film parties, muhurats and film premiers with his father.
He said, “The real meaning of ‘showbiz’ had to be seen back then — film premieres were lavish man! If a mahurat is happening: the set up was done in a five-star hotel in the form of gigantic sets. I can never forget the filmmaker giving the clap and the whole cast enacting the meatier scenes from their film then and there. Showbiz was really magical earlier. Can you imagine? My father was living in a chawl and superstars like Raj Babbar, Govinda, Gulshan Grover used to come over for interviews. These anecdotes left a “khatarnak” impression on me.”
Coming back to films that made “food” a subject for the camera with the ethics of the food and beverage industry and not even coming under any scrutiny, the actor shared, “I am in love with my director — hoping he continues to make films with me as his lead protagonist. It was his debut film and he was so much in control. All this while, I was living in a bubble that Huma Qureshi will behave starry with me, after all she’s a superstar. I was really flabbergasted to know that she has agreed to get casted opposite me! My perspectives have changed so much about her — I have found a friend for life. One quality that really struck me of Huma was the way she was giving uniform screen-space to all of us in the film. I am not afraid to commit that Huma Qureshi was the one who played a huge role in improving my performance in Tarla.”
He also doesn’t forget, “As soon as I heard the script narration, I felt I was being invited for a scrumptious feast on a film set. I never paid attention to my director’s cut, was busy trying out Gujarati dishes.”
But, on a closing note we would want you to know Sharib Hashmi’s one of the most beautiful experiences of life and that was when he was working for consecutively four years in MTV channel. That’s only because he was getting to watch films from a global genre. This anecdote was important for us to bring before the readers about the actor because we heard how he never went farther away from Bollywood.
Even if he saw Hollywood films, he only knew about Batman, Rambo or Jackie Chan but his work experience at MTV again changed his perspective on a global level of cinema. Working at MTV under Cyrus Broacha’s guidance was never so hectic for Hashmi, and he also disclosed how that acting keeda he had suppressed was emerging again because of Cyrus’s cult show. And then he got married, really became a family man but destiny had something else for this well versed actor because he has contributed much to the films we know and love today. So chime in with your own sensibilities while watching a food film like Tarla on ZEE 5 and remember it maybe for not one, but many memorable scenes of cooking.
