The best approach to interviewing Danish Sait is to go ‘unprepared’, without a list of questions that is. City Express had an off-the-cuff chat with this multifaceted personality, about his entry to film industry, his debut Humble Politician Nograj, and much more. He says, “Honestly speaking, I like to go with the flow and that’s how I have led my entire life till date and that approach has brought me this far. No matter how many plans we make, end of the day, life will take you to places you never imagined you would visit.” But the radio jockey and anchor says that he did have ‘a’ film in his wish list, and that’s how Humble Politician Nograj happened. “I managed to do whatever I could and wanted to, this far.
I have always wanted to be creative and do fun things. If people have noticed, I am living my extended childhood. I was in theatre in school, doing mimicry and now I do voices on radio. I used to write plays in my school and I am doing the same stuff now. The only difference is I am getting paid for this, which is a good thing because few people get to dream an idea and live it,” he says. Interestingly, his first film Humble Politician Nograj will hit theatres this week, and coincidentally it is around election time. “Our film will not tell you who to vote for, but it will definitely tell you who you shouldn’t vote for.
It is a perfect way to prepare people for elections,” he says. But having said that, he doesn’t want to be a politician. “There is a mistaken belief that if you want to change anything, you need to be in politics. But I have always believed that ‘change’ can be made from the sidelines,” he says. Danish loves to make people laugh with his prank calls. He guarantees the same fun and laughter with his first movie outing. “This is a political satire with a unique sense of humour, a kind that has not been tried before. Our film will not have slapstick humour but will only have situational humour,” he says, adding that the movie has a social message. The actor, who has also written the script, along with Saad Khan and Vamsi, insists that the film is a writer’s product.
“A writer is far more important than anybody else in the process. Of course, it is a director’s medium. I am not interested in how much screen time I get, I am very proud of this product,” he says. Danish first wrote the script in English and then adapted it into Kannada, and then worked with Vamsi to pen its dialogues. “I read Kannada very well,” says Danish. “There is a notion that I am not a Kannadiga, which is a big problem I face and I keep getting ‘Go back home’ messages. But I say ‘I am home’ and three to four generations of our family have been here. I studied in Coorg. Sometimes I wonder how else can I prove my identity. I am a universal human being, and I am very proud that I am a Bengalurean by heart.” “Saad Khan has made a great product,” says Danish, adding that the director is “one of the most talented people” he has ever come across. So he expresses about Sumukhi Suresh and Vijay Chendur among other actors. “Above all, we had the right kind of producers in Pushkar Mallikarjuniah, R a k s h i t Shetty and H e m a n t h M Rao,” he says.