Anupam Kher on negative reaction to his Rabindranath Tagore look: Don’t have time to waste on random people who want to get noticed by criticising somebody

Earlier this month, actor Anupam Kher dropped the first look of himself as Nobel Prize-winning Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore, from his next, which got mixed responses from the audience, with some, such as actor Swastika Mukherjee rejecting the idea of anyone essaying the role of the eminent poet and philosopher. However, the actor is unfazed, and confesses the negative views left him amused.

“My look as Rabindranath Tagore went viral because of the work that my whole team has put in it. But I was very amused by some people saying, ‘Oh, leave Rabindranath Tagore alone, and nobody should do this’. I got to know about this reaction when my PR team sent it to me,” Kher tells us, adding, “Around 99% of the people who I sent the image asked me why I am sending them Tagore’s picture. There are 86,400 seconds in a day, and if someone says such things for 10 seconds, I will not waste my other seconds thinking about it.”

The 68-year-old shares that he feels people put out such negative views for attention, saying, “They want to be noticed by their negative views instead of their work. Aap criticism ke liye notice hue toh kya hi notice hue. I also want to ask if that concerned person is Tagore’s spokesperson. Going forward, people will tell us not to make any project on Gandhi ji. I found it to be an absurd point. What do you mean leave Tagore alone? It had no meaning. I didn’t even know the name of the person (Swastika). When I got the message from my team, I asked them to focus on the appreciation that is coming our way because it took my team almost two months to create the look, and took me three months to get that expression right. There is no one in the world that doesn’t get criticised. I can live with it.”

Prodded further about the point stating “No one should play Robi Thakur. Leave the man alone”, the actor, who got plaudits for his role in The Kashmir Files last year, mentions it is a futile point to discuss.

“I don’t even want to discuss it because it is such an idiotic thing to say. Aise toh people will stop making projects such as Oppenheimer and Schindler’s List. People should stop making documentaries. Such remarks hold no importance to me. I have a lot of energy but I have no time to waste on people who are random and who have nothing to do but to get noticed by criticising somebody,” he laments.

When it comes to the details about the project from which Tagore look he released, Kher couldn’t share anything, but promised to reveal more about it soon.