Anurag Kashyap proved the ’12th Fail’ actor to be a fugitive | Anurag Kashyap had called the ’12th Fail’ actor a fugitive: Harish Khanna said- the director used to taunt, Bhansali had returned the biodata

The last stop for actors associated with theatre is films, but actor Harish Khanna left films because of theatre. Due to which director Anurag Kashyap called him a fugitive. Harish has recently appeared in the role of Manoj Sharma’s father in Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s film ’12th Fail’ and Parvat in the film ‘Bara Bai Bara’. Recently, during a conversation with Dainik Bhaskar, the actor made interesting revelations related to his career.

I didn’t know about NSD

Harish Khanna said- My parents migrated from Lahore to Kota, Rajasthan. I was born in Kota. I did my junior school in Delhi and high school in Jammu. I also did my college from there. Balwant Thakur had a Natarang Drama Group there. I joined his group and from there I came to know that there is an institution called NSD. I did not know about NSD before this. I joined NSD and came to Mumbai in 1993.

Bhansali had returned the biodata

When I came to Mumbai, I lived in PMGP Colony in Andheri East. At that time, mostly strugglers lived there because that place was cheaper than other places. Anurag Kashyap and Anup Soni lived with us there. At that time, the biggest expense was in getting the photos printed and distributing them in the office. I had given my biodata to Sanjay Leela Bhansali. The biodata also had a colour photo printed on it. At that time, it cost Rs 100 to get one copy made. Bhansali called the next day and said take it away, it is very expensive. At that time, people thought that the strugglers should not spend much money.

left movies for theater

Initially, I got a chance to work with Govind Nihalani in films like ‘Sanshodhan’ and ‘Hazaar Chaurasi Ki Maa’. After this, I did Milan Luthria’s film ‘Kacche Dhaage’. During this time, our drama teacher Anamika Haksar invited me for a play. That play was performed everywhere from Kashmir to Kanyakumari. When that play ended, I got another play by Dr. Anuradha Kapoor. That too ran for a year. After that, in 1999, I got a scholarship from the British Council and went to London for two years. There, along with studying, I was also doing professional theater in a drama company.

Anurag Kashyap used to taunt me

I never thought that I was missing out on films because of theatre. I thought I was acting. When I came back, Anurag Kashyap said, “Where have your friends reached? You ran away to Delhi.” In his eyes, I ran away, but I didn’t run away. I just wanted to act. At that time, I didn’t understand that I had to do films to earn money. I just wanted to do good work, be it theatre or films.

The comeback was with Tigmanshu Dhulia’s film

When I came back in 2004, Tigmanshu Dhulia gave me a very important role in ‘Charas’. After that I got work in Sujit Sarkar’s first film ‘Yahan’. Vishal Bhardwaj gave me work in Rangoon, Kaminey, Saat Khoon Maaf, Anurag Kashyap gave me work in ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’. Meanwhile, I started doing independent cinema.