In a scenario where bigger producers are also looking at smaller films and focussing on the return on their investments, do you think big-budget potboilers will be few and far between, or is there space for both genres?

There will always be space for both to coexist. And with due respect, there is nothing called “small films” in our firmament. All films are made with the same passion and resolve, as any other.

In this context, do you think high returns on investment are important regardless of how big or small the movie is, or is it important to be a member of the ₹100 crore-plus club of mega hits?

Return on investment is a basic need in any commercial business or enterprise. Films are no different. The vocabulary for the yardstick of success may have changed. They were addressed by the number of weeks a film ran earlier—25 weeks, silver jubilee, golden jubilee, diamond jubilee—now this mode has been made more specific. The return in money terms or cash is specified and so is its success factor through it. It’s a measure. In France, they evaluate through the footfall a film garners.

You have been a huge hit on social media. Tell us your experience in reaching fans directly through social media. Does this trend make film stars even more popular with fans, or does it demystify the stardom associated with them?

It started as a joke, and as soon as I was introduced and educated towards this medium I began contributing to it. I write a blog each day—have been doing so non-stop each day for 3,903 days as of today, November 22, 2018. My Twitter [handle] is 3,003 days [old] and Facebook 2,203 days. I have recently started Instagram, but have not numbered them. My collective following, therefore, is close to 60+ million. Connecting with fans, followers and their comments has been a most revealing, educative and a personal experience—abuse included! Work and the quality of your work, if appreciated, will be the popularity indicator on any medium. With all the modern communication gadgetry that abounds, it would not be prudent to imagine that a mystery shall exist about any celebrity. With a billion cameras following you as you step out these days, it can safely be said that this era shall have the benefit of extensive documentation ever witnessed.

You have been a big hit in on the advertising circuit and endorse several leading brands. What are the key things you keep in mind when agreeing to endorse a product?

I am not aware whether I have been a big success on the advertising circuit. But if you say so, I shall happily accept it. Perhaps you could direct a few brands my way, it would be helpful! Factors that bring agreement on a particular brand endorsement have many aspects. I do not do [endorse] alcohol and cigarettes because I do not consume them, but some of the products that I do consume are given due diligence.

You have recently paid off the dues of a number of farmers. What is the kind of socially relevant work you like to do?

Charitable work is supposed to be done, not talked about, but in today’s world, it does become necessary to do so, much to my dislike. Along with some of the charities that the family has been associated with—cancer, differently-abled children, education of girls, school and hospital needs, I noticed many years ago on a trip to Vizag, that farmers were committing suicide for the non-payment of amounts that alarmed me: ₹10,000, ₹15,000 and ₹20,000 were the monies they were unable to pay back to banks. I came back, contacted agencies that work on charities and was able to save around 50 farmers from Andhra by paying off their dues. I did [something] similar for farmers in Vidarbha some years ago and recently took care of about 350 farmers from Maharashtra.

I have just yesterday paid off the dues, with the cooperation of the bank, of 1,390-plus farmers from Uttar Pradesh [U.P.]. I did not want to show my face with the first two events, but for the ones after, in Maharashtra and U.P., I have decided to give them OTS [one-time settlement] certificates personally, so no inappropriate practices occur. For U.P., calling 1,400 farmers would not have been possible, so I identified 70 of them symbolically, booked an entire railway bogie for them to travel to Mumbai to call them to my place and handed over their OTS papers. Also, looking at the sacrifice that our brave jawans make at our borders, I paid a symbolic amount to the families of the shaheed. Forty four families were given substantial amounts by calling them over to my place and handing them the cheques.

Working on the Swachch Bharat campaign on a Cleanathon that NDTV conducted for 15 hours, I came across manual scavengers and their plight. I will be distributing 50 mechanical equipment to each worker, so they do not have to go down these dangerous manholes doing this dehumanising job, and to save them the indignity they suffer socially [He handed over the equipment in November 2018].

During this year’s [2018] KBC we have been devoting every Friday of the season towards the KBC Karmveer, where we honour people devoting their time and effort on social causes they work tirelessly and selflessly for. There have been such moving examples of these brave Karmveers that have devoted their entire life towards the betterment of tribals, of hungry citizens on the street, of those uncared for humans mentally ill and left to fend for themselves on the pavements of the city, of elders abandoned by their children and left to perish, of dynamic individuals that are working in the preservation of water and the environment and so on. To each of them, I have in my own small manner contributed to their causes.

A lot more needs to be done. And I give a description of all this here not for any personal aggrandisement or praise. I wish and hope that many others would take [this as an] example, an incentive and follow suit, so several more could benefit. I worked on polio for almost eight years through the UN and we were finally able to make India polio-free. I work now for TB [tuberculosis] and Hepatitis B ailments urging to go for its detection and cure. I am a TB survivor and have been inflicted with Hepatitis B virus also, due to a wrong blood transfusion during my 1982 accident on Coolie. I am a survivor there too. The Hep B went unnoticed, undetected from 1982 till 2015, when during a general investigation it was discovered that 75% of my liver has been eaten away.

I survive on 25%… but I am surviving… I use that as an example to urge others to go in for detection and get the required cure. I took a cure for my TB as well, and if I can be a living example, then I wish to let those who are infected know that timely detection and medication can cure the disease.

The stories are many. But this interview shall be of little biographical interest, so I shall stop. Good night. I need to get back to my blog for Day 3,904!

The story was originally published in Fortune India’s special collector’s edition - Business of Entertainment.

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