Anupam Kher has tested positive for everything but Corona, says Prabhu Chawla, Editorial Director, The New Indian Express, during the panel discussion with the actor. And indeed, truer words were never spoken. The actor has been through depression, bankruptcy, loss of dear friends, his mother and brother had tested positive for COVID and yet, being the eternal optimist that he is, Kher emerged victorious.
These experiences he has distilled into Lessons Life Taught Me, Unknowingly: An Autobiography and his latest, Your Best Day is Today, the book he was talking about at The New Indian Express’ Dakshin Literary Festival 2020 during a session titled, The Best Thing About Biographies.
The pandemic, which the 65-year-old called a “forced hiatus of sorts”, brought death into sharp focus for him, especially with his dear friends and fellow actors Rishi Kapoor and Irrfan Khan having passed away, so much so that there is a whole chapter dedicated to this topic in his book. “Death had become just numbers rather than emotion. The lockdown made me understand, ‘After all this, what did we get by achieving every day?’,” he rues.
Thus, in his career spanning 36 years and over 570 films, he took a pause. “As a person, if you become a little more aware and mature there is no bigger success than that,” he shares. While Your Best Day is Today, a title he picked up from his mother’s sayings, is number one on Amazon, his autobiography is trailing right behind at spot number two, a happy serendipity Kher is grateful for.
“People are currently going through insecurities and self-doubts, and when someone talks about his own doubts and failures, they relate,” says the actor, sharing that when he was a struggling actor in Mumbai, he used to read Charlie Chaplin’s My Autobiography. He also says that the lockdown has made him more attentive as a listener. “If the pandemic hasn’t changed you, then there is something wrong with you,” he shares.
Veteran actor and author Anupam Kher was talking about his latest book Your Best Day is Today at a session on the last day of the Dakshin Literary Festival 2020. He also spoke about death, failures and his struggles