Watching films at Mayfair inspired Dalip to be an actor

The actor who shot to fame as Aamir Khan’s father in 'Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak', credits Lucknow for his interest in English films and theatre.
An actor of repute, Dalip Tahil is playing Raja Dashrath on TV these days. But few know that Tahil, who was in Lucknow on Saturday, has been closely associated with the city since he was a kid.
You have shot for 'Jaanisaar' and 'Aur Devdas' (yet to be released) in Lucknow.You must know the city well by now...
I was born in Agra but I have a very strong Lucknow connect. After the Partition, my mother’s family came to Kanpur from Sindh, and from there to Lucknow. My mama still lives here. I have spent some beautiful times in this city. In fact, as a kid I indulged in a lot of Ganjing. I have also studied for a few months at Christ Church College. Unfortunately, for a long time, I couldn’t come to Lucknow, but as luck would have it, I had to come here for the shooting of these two movies. Now I am here for the promotion of my show. So destiny is bringing me back here. I have lots of friends in Lucknow, whom I hadn’t met in a long time, but the long shooting spells helped me catch up with them.
Also, Lucknow has had a lot of good influence in my life. As a child, I used to come every Sunday to Mayfair movie hall with my uncle to watch English movies. I used to imagine myself as an actor in that movie. My inclination towards English movies and theatre is because of the movies I have watched in Mayfair. My sister used to be really scared of me at that time because every time I used to watch an English movie, I would go home and force her to enact scenes from the movie with me.
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You acted in Buniyaad 25 years ago. What made you return to TV after such a long gap?
I was getting offers to do TV shows and it’s not as if I have suddenly accepted this show because I am not getting offers for movies. But nothing ever excited me on TV. The money offered to me in serials was always good but the standard of roles wasn’t that great. I used to get offers to play dad on TV, but Raja Dashrath ke role jaisa larger than life character mujhe kabhi offer nahi hua. It was just too irresistible to say no. Also, I have now become quite selective about my roles. Earlier I would do roles for friendship’s sake in movies, but not now.
Are you also open to doing reality shows on small screen?
Reality shows are very unreal. I was offered the first season of 'Bigg Boss' but I said no to it as I had already seen Big Brother and knew what the show was all about. Main kabhi bhi reality show nahi karunga. For me, the best reality shows are either musical shows or something like 'India’s Got Talent'.
A lot of things have changed for Indian television since the last time you were on it...
This is my second serial and after 'Buniyaad', everything about TV shows has changed. We don’t have any bank of episodes, we are shooting for more than 13 hours a day. We now have TRPs ka pressure which never existed when I did my first serial and also shooting styles have changed completely.
Are you happy with how your filmi career has gone?
Nobody writes roles for a character artist like me. So, all my life, I have mostly played the role of a father, generally rich. I always feel I could have done something better in movies. However, theatre has always satisfied my creative urge to do something different.
'Jaanisaar' failed to make a mark on the Box Office. What went wrong?
Well, during the shoot, we actually didn’t realise that things were going wrong with Jaanisaar. But when we saw the final print, I realised that something is not right. But people were really harsh with their reviews about the movie. Pata nahi kyun mujhe movie itni bhi kharaab nahi lagi. Though I do agree that the lead pair in the movie could not make that impact. Plus, comparison with Muzaffar’s Umrao Jaan was another reason for the movie not going down well with the audience.
What is the status of 'Aur Devdas'?
I don’t know when it’s releasing. Every month I get calls that the movie will release this month, but it does not.
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