Ravi Kishan: ‘People Threw Stones At Me’

‘I have seen all the storms and floods. I have crawled and reached here.’

IMAGE: Ravi Kishan in Mirzapur: The Movie.

 

After more than three decades in the industry, Ravi Kishan has suddenly become a favourite of the Internet, with his expressions, dialogues and unfiltered personality.

But to get here has taken him years of struggle, hard work and, as he puts it, Shivji’s blessings.

From the success of Kiran Rao’s Laapataa Ladies to his much-talked-about performance in Mirzapur: The Movie, the actor is enjoying what he calls, the beginning of a new innings.

“I have to support myself and help myself to grow and survive,” the Lok Sabha MP from Gorakhpur tells Subhash K Jha. “No script was ever written for me. These youngsters like this about me because they think I’m a self-made achiever.”

How are you coping with your newfound fame?

I am in Houston now, have a show going on. From here, I go to Dallas, New York, New Jersey, and Virginia.

I am like Ravi Kishan talking on stage, with my catchlines like, ‘Money follows’, preaching, a little motivation, a little Indian connection, one or two songs…

‘After 34 years of struggle, I have started receiving some of Shivji’s blessings’

IMAGE: Ravi Kishan in Laapataa Ladies.

You second innings seem to have started with Kiran Rao’s Laapataa Ladies.

All this is due to Lord Mahadev’s grace. All credit goes to Kiran Rao ma’am. She thought of me in place of Aamir Khan. It is a big thing.

This is my destiny, and my father’s blessings.

After 34 years of struggle, I have started receiving some of Shivji’s blessings.

You’ve been a seasoned actor for a long time. But your off-screen image has been amazing. Youngsters are connecting with you. You have become an Internet sensation.

It’s because, I think, somewhere down the line, they don’t have access to real faces or unfiltered perfection. Imperfectionists, people who make mistakes and own them and accept them.

Nobody is perfect.

I laugh at my own memes, like them, comment on them… People throw lemons at you, you make lemonade.

People threw stones at me, I turned them into flowers.

When you have Shivji’s blessings, when you have divine spirituality, when you have a little enlightenment, you see the broader picture. Like Shivji I kept the poison in my throat.

Whatever I’ve gone through, I’ve turned into positivity. I didn’t waste my time on thinking who’s doing what and why they’re doing and who’s not.

I don’t have a PR machine. I just kept chanting ‘Shiv Shiv’ and kept moving, and kept taking care of myself, my family, my optics, and my hard work. I never paid attention to anything else.

‘No script was ever written for me’

IMAGE: Ravi Kishan in Mirzapur: The Movie.

You are a terrific actor too.

Whatever job I got, I’ve tried to give my 1,000%. I always believed that this is the first unique film I have got, the first unique shot.

Whether it’s receiving awards, raising my voice in my constituency, raising my voice in Parliament… I don’t have a godfather.

I have to support myself and help myself to grow and survive. No script was ever written for me. These youngsters like this about me because they think I’m a self-made achiever.

Mirzapur is growing by the day.

It’s getting bigger and bigger. I’m getting glowing comments from all over the country, even in America. It’s going houseful.

People are going mad. That Sholay feeling is coming back.

Gurmmeet (Singh, Director) and the writer, Puneet Krishna, have written something amazing.

Excel’s Farhan (Akhtar) and Ritesh (Sidhwani) trusted Puneet. He was an assistant in Don, which Farhan was directing. He gave his assistant a job and believed in him.

His career also took off along with Gurmmeet’s.

This is Excel’s biggest opening in its 25-year banner run.

‘I have gone through so much hardship’

IMAGE: Ravi Kishan with daughter Riva on Alliance.

You are a new character in Mirzapur: The Movie.

Gurmmeet and Puneet wanted me badly. They thought I could be the one to threaten such a big gangsters of Mirzapur who have been a cult for 10 years: Guddu, Munna, Kaleen Bhaiya.

I got to do so many shades. People are going gaga over my performance and my nuances, my voice, my eyes, that etiquette of giving a chair to a girl, giving her respect…

It’s a beautifully made film.

Are you not afraid that all the fame you have achieved might be snatched away? How will you sustain it?

I have gone through so much hardship, so much oppression, so much suffering… I have seen all the storms and floods. I have crawled and reached here.

When a person comes up after so much hardship, what does he fear now?

Right now, this is the trailer, my friend. The artiste is just a drop in the ocean of art.

I meet so many people, have observed so many people, there are so many fresh characters I encounter as a Parliamentarian. People come with problems to me every day. I read their mind and their body language.

I promise you one thing. I will always give you something so organic, because everything we have is fresh.

‘I play an icchadhari python’

IMAGE: Ravi Kishan. Photograph: Kind courtesy Ravi Kishan/Instagram

What is the next after Mirzapur?

Naggzilla, a film by Karan Johar and Mahavir Jain, starring Kartik Aryan.

I play an icchadhari python in that!

I am so glad that Hanuman Ansh and Mirzapur are getting respect. This is like Sholay and Jai Santoshi Maa.

Where do you go from here?

Hindi cinema has not seen an artist like me, who can play anything convincingly.

If Irrfan Khan Bhai’s films start coming to me, it will be fun. Something like Lunchbox. No one has seen that side of mine.

Photographs curated by Manisha Kotian/Rediff