My Interactions with Habib Tanvir: Part XXIII 'Mein isliye khafa hoon ki tum bambai gaye hi kyun?'( I am upset because why did you choose to go to Mumbai?)

  A small role in 'Slumdog Millionaire' was offered to me. The dates were clashing and I had to miss one of the shows of 'Raj Rakta' somewhere in the Northeast. I have huge qualms about missing a theater show that I am a part of for the reason that the whole show comes together with your small bit going into it. When one of these bits goes missing and someone else has to come in and replace an actor , it impacts the show and feels disrespectful towards the crew which works extremely hard to put it all together. However, this seemed like a big thing( and it eventually did become big, Slumdog won eight oscars) And we had to shoot on the same day when this show was going to happen. I spoke to Habib saab, nervously so, he could just shoot me down and he would have a fairly good reason to. Habib saab was very understanding as usual. These are his words then ' I understand it is your first work in cinema, I understand the excitement even if it is a small role they are offering you…mein is baat se khafa nahin hoon ki tum mera show chod kar film mein kaam karne ja rahe ho, mein is baat se khafa hoon ki tum bambai gaye hi kyun?' ( I am not upset that you are leaving my show for a small bit in a film, I am UPSET because I can't fathom why did you go to Mumbai?) What could I say to that? Though we did have a conversation about it later. I asked him what he would have me do as an actor. He said that I should have worked with Naya Theater in Bhopal. I did ask him to remember how much an actor at Naya Theater gets paid. He smiled, took a puff at his pipe and nodded. That was that.