Success is boring, failure is exciting: Anupam Kher

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MUMBAI - He has translated his failures into a thumping success. Anupam Kher’s much lauded play “Kuchh Bhi Ho Sakta Hai”, which encapsulates the failed moments of his life, will have its 200th show next month and the veteran actor says failure is more entertaining than trailing success stories.

“Success is boring… failure is exciting and more entertaining,” said Anupam.

Directed by Feroz Abbas Khan, Anupam’s autobiographical one-man play will complete its 200th show at the National Centre for Performing Arts (NCPA) here Jan 3 next year.

The actor was asked to pen down his memoirs by a well-known publisher and while collecting content for the book, he decided to do a play on some interesting events of his life instead.

“Harper Collins gave me a letter of intent saying that they want me to pen down my autobiography. When I was recollecting the incidents of my life for that, I selected only those incidents which were turning points in my life. I staged it instead of writing it,” Anupam told IANS in an interview.

The actor says the play was four hours long when the first draft was completed.

“But we edited it and kept only those incidents which were interesting and could relate to the audience. Still it’s two-and-a-half-hours long and I alone play around 100 characters that include my family, brothers, friends and other people,” said Anupam.

Asked if it is difficult to speak about failures in real life, he said: “The moment you talk about your failure, it liberates you from the fear of it. People tend to scare you pointing out your shortfalls. If you voluntarily admit your faults, then people won’t have anything to point out.”

Anupam may be staging its 200th show, but he is as nervous as he was when he did the first show in June 2003.

“On the day of the performance I don’t eat the whole day and stop talking to anyone hours before the show.”

Asked if there is any plan to transform the play into a film, he said: “When Neeraj Pandey (’A Wednesday’ fame director) saw this play, he showed interest in making a film on it, but he didn’t approach me after that. It’s too long to make a film on the play because it’s a saga. You can’t take just one portion of it and make a film.”