Saqib Saleem-What All New Actors Could Be

Yes, Saqib Saleem is what all new actors could be and one can only hope they will be one day. Well at least we have him and he is someone  I wouldn’t mind being in ‘any room with’. Like his character (Avinash)  in Bombay Talkies says about Randeep Hooda’s character ( who also I wouldn’t mind being in any room with, whether he is Sahib or Gangster ).

I first saw Mujhse Fraaindship Karoge, which is probably Saqib’s first movie in chronological order, quite a while after its release (the title didn’t sound very promising). The movie was not bad, was definitely topical ( about social interactions in the wake of social networking sites). The new guy (Saqib) never once tried to take his shirt off, or rip it. Yet, he had smooth moves (in dancing and otherwise) and obviously wasn’t hiding fat under the clothes.

His delivery is smooth and contained and his comic timing is flawless. I have not seen that in a long time. There is no doubt the kid is a natural. When he laughs, it doesn’t seem like he is choking on a pebble that is trying to come out of his nose. It’s a good hearty or sarcastic or knowing laugh- whatever the scene demands. Also, MFK didn’t try too hard to kick and prod you into laughing. So over all.. I found a new interesting actor, but the movie dissolved in my mind.

Then more recently I saw Mere Dad ki Maruti. I couldn’t actually remember where I had seen the guy in the first scene. But seeing the absence of shirtlessness, even amidst pelvic thrusts and one, slightly-over-the -top dance number, I recalled another actor in another movie like that, and indeed, it was the very same guy. Now, I will never forget him. MDKM, overall was not bad. Ram Kapoor was good as always, and looking at Saqib you won’t know he wasn’t born in a Punjabi household. Nothing great or a must watch, but what I would call, a ‘can’ watch.

Bombay Talkies, on the other hand is actually a well made film with four different YET appropriate stories about how movies and Bollywood have affected different parts, personalities and people of India. Saqib or Avinash’s story is the first one where he is gay and is strongly attracted to his boss’s (Rani Mukherjee)  husband ( Ranbeer Hooda, a newsreader). I must  mention Rani Mukherjee who is as good an actor as Bollywood has ever produced and then destroyed mercilessly.  Imagine also my surprise when I discovered that Karan Johar, in fact, had directed this short story and I have to say, it was good. Karan Johar also did perhaps the first mainstream movie, again with Rani, about extra marital affairs being less than evil ( Kabhi Alvida na Kehna). He tries to be different, I think, maybe he tries too hard and wants commercial success as well. I don’t know. He never seemed even average to me, as a director. But this story was very well handled. Hooda is in denial about being gay, but Saleem senses his attraction to him and in fact, immediately sets about getting it straight with Rani and Hooda. Their attraction is fortified by their love of old Hindi film music, something that encompasses them in their own sphere, as a little girl sings their favorite old song ( Lag ja gale..se..se). I think the singing by the very talented child singer was a sweet and unusual angle, but the song  was way too mature and poignant for a child.

Since this post is not about the movie, I will not detail the other three stories, which were also very well made, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, thankfully no longer requires an introduction or any praises. He has and will give back to Indian theatre actors what had been owed to them for ages and not paid. He will no doubt extract that in full and more. Despite the imminent and perennial danger of being type-cast, his Temur ( in an otherwise lack -lustre movie, Talaash) is a character I will never forget.

Coming back to Saqib, the boy can cry. He doesn’t look like he is trying hard to strangle someone while whistling.  In case people don’t get who I am talking about in all these references to shirtless and characterless actors who cannot do comedy or cry and definitely cannot dance, it is usually Salman Khan, though the contrived shirtlessness is now an epidemic. When Saqib (Avinash) gets angry, you feel the tension between his egotistic, willfully ignorant and bully of a dad and him, on the issue of him being gay and his imploding frustration. He is outrageous with his boss, yet you feel  his nervousness and anxiety about her reaction and possibility of acceptance, towards him and his sexual orientation. From the chemistry in the music room between Hooda and Saleem to Rani’s deliverance from feelings of subconscious inferiority, the scenes were quite moving. A definite step in the forward direction for Indian cinema. I hate using stock phrases- but when Hooda kisses Saleem ( yes, they even show that), sparks do fly and it doesn’t seem apologetic or superfluous at all.

Saqib Saleem, please don’t change. You are a sight for sore eyes, an oasis in the desert and while I am undoubtedly going overboard- maybe that is needed to finally make Bollywood what it could be. One Nawazuddin can’t seem to get the job done. Join ranks with gangstas like Randeep Hooda. And while I am at it, “Saqib ji, kya aap ‘Mujhe Fraaindship Karoge?”

Ishita Das is a  neuroscientist by training and recently graduated with a PhD from Johns Hopkins University, Maryland. And now, would like to write about things that make people  think or feel something and in the process perhaps learn to understand the different shades of life. She continues to work with a group trying to make Autism more accessible to scientists and the public. She also contributes to a science and environment magazine.