PATRIARCH GAMES

KANWALJIT SINGH BELIEVES ALL THE HATE HE’S GARNERED FOR PLAYING A CHAUVINIST IN MRS. IS FLATTERING. THE VETERAN TAKES FARHANA FAROOK THROUGH HIS LIFE AND TIMES

- FARHANA FAROOK

Kanwaljit Singh is amused to find himself in the midst of a hate-wave. By playing the hard-to-please father-in-law to Sanya Malhotra's Richa in Mrs., the actor has invited fury particularly from women. The brickbats are actually bouquets, applause for his authentic portrayal of the chauvinistic Ashwin Kumar in the Arati Kadav film. "Ironically, whenever I've played a character with a negative bent it has done well," smiles the septuagenarian who's the antithesis of his insensitive reel persona. “My father Sardar Joginder Singh was a liberal man. He used to prepare the morning tea and serve it to my mother Rani Ravinder Kaur,” shares the actor underlining that respect for women is his legacy. He's an aesthete besides being an actor. Memories of Gulzar reciting poetry under the night sky by the Beas River, Gulzar gifting him his translation of Rabindranath Tagore's poetry, decoding the mysticism in the paintings of Russian painter/philosopher Nicholas Roerich, the symbolism in Salvador Dali's Christ of Saint John of the Cross... These are moments that resonate with him. Those that replenish and renew the artiste forever in quest... His journey in Kanwaljit Singh's own words:

Mrs, mayhem

Nothing can match the response I recently received for my character in