Interview: Amar Singh

By: Jai Rajendrakumar

Many a time we witness an actor leave Tinsel Town for the Capitol Building, with Ronald Reagan, Sonny Bono and Arnold Schwarzenegger ditching Hollywood for Sacramento (or Washington, D.C.), and Amitabh Bachchan temporarily trading Bollywood for Delhi. Rarely do we see the reverse, where a politician seeks greater riches on the silver screen or the big stage, but that is exactly what South Indian politician Amar Singh is plotting to do. Then again, what else would one expect from a politician who was just expelled from his leadership role with the Samajwadi Party? With a political career that seems to be all but over, the 54-year-old veteran Uttar Pradeshi legislator has turned in his political card and is now preparing to take on the lead role as a musician opposite the stunningly beautiful and equally talented Dimple Kapadia in Umar Karrikkad’s upcoming Malayalam musical, Bombay Mittayi (“Bombay Sweets”). The acting gig will be Singh’s second, as the outcast politician made his on-screen debut in Dev Anand’s murder mystery Chargesheet.

Interestingly enough, Singh’s sophomore appearance on the big screen came with one demand: he wanted to have final say over who would play his fictional wife in Bombay Mittayi, and the person he so aptly chose was Dimple K. herself. The two have a long-lasting friendship that dated well before Singh’s new foray into acting.

“When the filmmaker agreed to my condition, I called up my close friend Dimple Kapadia, and she agreed at once,” Singh told the press. “I’m very camera-friendly, and acting in front of the camera was like a picnic.”

And he is not stopping there — already Singh is eying two other films, including the semi-autobiographical Dhokha and a Bengali film where he would play leading nationalist leader, lawyer and poet in Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das.

“I’m reading the script,” the exiled politician succinctly summarized about the Bengali film, adding to his comments to the press that he is looking forward to Dhokha, which would delve into his personal and political life. “I want a movie to be made on my political and personal experiences, which could be titled Dhokha.”

As that film would be semi-autobiographical, Singh is scouting leading actors to play both himself and those close to him in real life. Among those he would like to see in Dhokha, he stated, include Bollywood stars Sanjay Dutt and Jaya Prada, as well as Bhojpuri leading man Manoj Tiwari. Of course, if he has to play a role in his own movie, he is not against it. After all, Singh firmly believes politics properly trained him to be a ham, not to mention he already has a natural inclination to be charismatic and charming when the red light starts flashing.

“If required, I would also act in the movie,” he announced. “I had already done a Bengali movie and would face the camera again for another flick in Malyalam.”

Born to a middle-class Rajput family in Uttar Pradesh, Singh is as well-read as he is accomplished in both academia and politics. Taught by a leading English poet and professor in Kolkatta, Singh rose to prominence as a member of the then-dominant Congress Party. About 15 years ago, he jumped ship and joined the Samajwadi Party, which was also the political organization and ideology of choice for Sanjay Dutt, the leading Bollywood actor who joined the group because of Singh.

Singh quickly rose to power within the minority party, becoming its Secretary General while serving out his term in India’s Rajya Sabha (the upper house of the country’s federal Parliament, equivalent to the U.S. Senate). Earlier this year, amidst controversy that surround both him and Dutt, Singh announced he would step down from his post as Secretary General and leave the Samajwadi Party. He regularly blogs about his political experience on his own website and blog.

Soon he hopes to make about as many observations about Mumbai’s Tinsel Town as he does with Delhi’s Capitol Hill. Only time will tell whether Singh finds as much success — or controversy — in film as he has in politics. One thing is for sure: Singh is definitely bucking trends by foraying into film after politics, perhaps proof positive that the pipeline between the two public-eye industries is much more of a two-way street than most realize.