HYDERABAD: After nearly 450 films and 100 plays, when actor Anupam Kher was probably expected to write an autobiography, he decided to pen a motivational book about his experiences. Titled “The Best Thing About You is...You”, this self-help book is Kher’s attempt in the genre of non-fiction writing, drawing references from his own life. “The book doesn’t have any Shakespearan language. It talks about life. That’s it,” clarifies Kher. The book was launched in the city on Tuesday at the meeting of the FICCI Ladies Organisation, by social worker Amala Akkineni and actor Siddharth, who also read out a chapter from Kher’s latest book. Here’s what the debutant author has to say:
Facial Palsy
Facial Palsy is merely a fancy term for a condition called facial paralysis. This is what I was suffering from during the shooting of the Hindi film Hum Aapke Hai Kaun. The doctor had asked me to take complete bed rest for two months. It was my moment of truth --- I could either go into hiding, or face my fears, finish my shooting and move on with my life. And I chose the latter. This is why you will notice that there are no close-up shots of me in the film, only long shots. This incident made my inner fear go away.
Biography vs Motivational book
Publishing houses like Penguin and Harper Collins wanted me to write an autobiography. But I chose to write about my experiences --- about everything that went wrong in my life. Around 10 years ago, whatever I was trying to do, was going haywire--- right from making a film that failed at the Box Office, to my failed attempt of producing serials. I wanted to be a media tycoon, but that didn’t happen. After everything went for a toss, I decided to stage a play titled ‘Kuch Bhi Ho Sakta Hai’ (based on my disasters), which became my most successful attempt. That made me feel like the tallest man on earth. I spoke about my failure and made the audience laugh about it. I started looking at the funny side of life. Post the succes of my play, I was invited to various universities to talk about the power of failure. I had an epiphany and decided to pen a book on the same.
Being comfortable in your own skin
I believe that being comfortable with youself is the easiest thing one can do. However, most of us choose the difficult way and try to be something we are not. This simply brings in more sadness. Being sad is like a drug --- slowly one starts enjoying it and doesn’t want to be happy anymore. But, being happy is like practising how to drive --- if you make an effort everyday, you keep getting better at it.