Banaras is few of the remaining cities that still has a culture of its own: Sanjay Mishra

Actor Sanjay Mishra refuses to be consumed by the persona of being a

Bollywood

actor. The '

Kadvi Hawa

' actor believes , "When you already carry a baggage of impersonating somebody else on screen, then why not be your real self off screen?" he reasons.
So the actor prefers to ditch a plush hotel and stays in a non-descript accommodation near river Ganga on his every visit to Varanasi. This time also, it was no different. On a visit to the city for the shooting of film Bahut Hua Samman, the Masaan actor stayed in an accommodation overlooking river Ganga on

Assi Ghat

. Enjoying the cool breeze coming from the river front, with

classical music

playing in the background, sipping his cuppa tea in a kullhar, the actor even dished out a meal on his off days that included dishes which are typical of the city where he has spent a considerable time as a youngster. "Banaras is few of the remaining cities that still has a culture of its own. Main uss culture mein rehna chata hoon na ki usse alag. Aap sab kuchh khareed sakte hain par yeh mahaul nahi, jo aur kahin nahi mil sakta," he says.
The Angrezi Mein Kehte Hai actor further adds, "I never became an actor to earn the nomenclature of being a hero. Dono alag cheezein hain. People come up to me and say ‘koi tips dijiye aaj kal ke logon ko’ toh main unse poochhta hoon ki acting karna chate ho ki hero banna chate ho . Main personally acting karta hoon. I want to remain the person what my environment, parents, friends have made me into. I don’t not want to escape this, if I try to then I will not be a good human being, leave aside a good actor. Jo aap hain woh rahiye. At times actors put on act even when they are not before their camera which I don’t believe in," he says.
Sanjay, who is currently essaying a variety of roles, says, "Maine apni khwaish bade directors ke saath kaam karne ki poori kar li. Unki films mein maine chhote-chhote role kiye. Now I prefer working with new directors as they bring in a new world view. I have several films lined up with new directors which includes Death On a Sunday directed by Sanjay Soni and Coat, helmed by Akshay. These new directors explore me more as an actor. Similarly I also try to push the envelope as an actor with these young directors. Known directors have everything spelled out on what they expect from me as an actor but new directors leave a lot of scope of improvisation for me," he says.

Sanjay Mishra (BCCL/ Arvind Kumar)
The actor is happy that those who considered him as an underrated actor are being proved wrong. "Even the most popular stars are not getting the kind of roles that I am doing. I am spanning every genre of acting, including negative shades. My character in Gwalior, co-starring Neena Gupta, has negative shades. Despite all this I will never give up comedy as a genre from where I started. But this is unfortunate that actors like Johnny Lever or Mahmood have remained just comedians as they were not given ample chance to explore other domains of acting," he says.
The Ankhon Dekhi actor further adds, "This is the best phase of Hindi cinema. Some great roles are being written for actors of all age groups. A film centring on Neena Gupta and me, playing pivotal characters in the film Gwalior, was unthinkable few years back. One couldn’t imagine a film being made on AK Hangal and Nirupa Roy in those times. But now everything is possible. Real stories with real characters are being liked by the audience. Larger-than-life is no longer the winning formula in films. In such a scenario the government should chip in for cinema. There should be different tax slabs for films. The same tax is being levied on a film that has earned 100 crore and those low budgeted films who have to remain content with just a National Award. Government should also take the responsibility of at least ensuring a theatrical release of films selected by the jury, from among which some of these films get the National Award. Such films should reach the larger audience," he opines.