If all actors became stars, who will act? Hahahaha! No evaluating system in the world can beat the indwelling dignity and self-assuredness of a talented artist. You can actually sense that sufficiency every time you meet Anupam Kher. And in the aesthetic surroundings of his artistically done up acting school where we meet up, it is even more pronounced. The sunlight streaming in from the windows is casting a warm glow in the office. This is his own space, created, cared for and nurtured by him; a school to others, in many ways a haven for him. Anupam sinks into his skin with more ease than I have seen him in a long, long time. The outcome is astounding. Astoundingly honest! NP: You have done some of your best work in the last few years, MAINE GANDHI KO NAHI MARA, WEDNESDAY and recently, SANKAT CITY, yet it’s been one of your quietest phases. You seemed to have stepped back a bit. Is that deliberate? Where are you with yourself at this point in time in your life…as a person, as an actor, as a professional… AK: I will always be restless, that’s a permanent phase, wanting to do something different, something new, to keep myself alive as a person, as a performer. I want to be in step with the times. When I meet people like Woody Allen or see Clint Eastwood’s movies, I am amazed at their mental agility. These people are in their eighties and what brilliant minds! That’s the way I want to be, I don’t want to just drift away, but having said that, yes, in a way, this is the most peaceful period that I have ever been in the last 25 years. Let’s say I am more settled within my restlessness. I am more willing to make pacts and I am a little more content. A few years ago I would have said that I am running fast nowhere, now I am running fast somewhere, now there is some sort of direction. There is some semblance of clarity. But I do feel very alienated from the rest of the world. Especially my fraternity… NP: You’ve been feeling like this since a long time… AK: Since a long time, yeah. I think the best thing to happen to me was my school. The process of lending education or sharing your experiences can be cathartic and throw up wonderful things in your own head. It’s a fantastic feeling to be surrounded by these young, eager, hungry minds. Sometimes you imbibe more from them than they from you. Believe me, it’s more rejuvenating than any health spa in the world. If I hadn’t opened this school five years ago I don’t know what I would have done to keep myself going. NP: Why do you feel alienated from the rest? AK: It’s a need-based industry. I am not cynical or bitter, just like I said earlier; wiser maybe. I am basically a small town guy. My formative years are rooted in there. That is my reference point, my core. That makes me the person I am and will be for the rest of my life. When I got into movies, I thought this whole industry is one big happy family and then I discovered that it is not. I am not saying I’m disillusioned but it took me a while to come to terms with this relentless purposiveness and move on. I do feel lonelier, if I have to use that word. My grandfather used to say that ‘The more you understand life the lonelier you will get.’ I don’t know if objectivity is a good thing or a bad thing. Sometimes being caught up in your own anger, your own hurt, your own passion is what keeps you alive, but when you start taking the overview and start trying to ‘understand' the other person’s point of view as well as your own it gets more complicated and less spontaneous. NP: They say when you start over-analysing life, you stop living it. AK: It definitely makes you lonelier.