Suresh Oberoi says he was paid more than Anil Kapoor for Thikana; actors were insecure of him: ‘There was someone who could steal the show…’

Suresh Oberoi opened up about the advice actor Vinod Mehra gave him and recalled what Anil Kapoor said after he won the National Award for Mirch Masala.

By: Entertainment Desk

New Delhi | December 17, 2023 01:21 PM IST

3 min read

Suresh Oberoi was recently seen in Animal. (Photo: Suresh/Instagram)

Veteran actor Suresh Oberoi was recently seen in the hit film Animal. On his 77th birthday on Sunday, he opened up about the struggles he faced in the industry. Suresh revealed instances where actors refused to work with him, citing various reasons. Despite this, he impressed the audience with his performance and his role in Ketan Mehta’s 1987 film Mirch Masala won him a National Award for Best Supporting Actor, a category specially introduced for him by the government.

In an interview with Lehren Retro, Suresh revisited the time when he was paid more than Anil Kapoor. “I had taken Rs 25,000 more than Anil Kapoor in Thikana. With Mahesh Bhatt. I was getting good money, a good price. The only thing is few people didn’t want me to work with him.”

When asked why the actors didn’t want to work with him, he shared that many thought that he would steal their thunder and tried to spoil his image by saying that he troubles his directors. “Imagine somebody is a better actor than me and there is someone who can steal the show from them, then what will they say? They will say, ‘nahi yar tang karta hai woh.’ They will say anything. They won’t say, ‘I am scared.’ But, there were people like Jeetendra and Mithun, who had no problems. They were not insecure.”

Also read | Suresh Oberoi sent a message to Neetu Kapoor after working with her ‘well-behaved’ son Ranbir Kapoor: ‘Aapne bahut aache sanskar diye hain…’

The actor also recalled Vinod Mehra telling him to focus on playing character roles instead of focusing on lead roles. Suresh remembered, “Even the government of India accepted when my film Mirch Masala got released. It was a hit film. Somebody said ‘How can you give the best actor award to him? He’s not even an actor?’ The government created a role that day of Best Supporting Actor and then I got a National Award.”

Revealing how he felt about winning his first National Award, Suresh shared, “I started crying. I couldn’t talk on the phone. I gave it to my wife. It was streaming on the TV that night. Anil Kapoor called me from Shabana’s house and both of them spoke to me. I told him about the night shoot and Anil was like, ‘cancel, aaj itna bada din hai. (Cancel the shoot, today is such a big day)’”

Helmed by Sandeep Reddy Vanga, Animal stars Ranbir Kapoor, Bobby Deol, Anil Kapoor and Rashmika Mandanna in pivotal roles.

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