As more and more Indians live on two continents, actor Anupam Kher is the latest to call both Mumbai and New York home.
He is, after all, Dr Vijay Kapoor, a dedicated emergency care physician at New Amsterdam Hospital in Manhattan. Well, to be completely accurate, he plays the role of Kapoor in the hugely popular new television series New Amsterdam on NBC. Of course, there is no hospital of that name in New York – it is based on the large sprawling Bellevue Hospital and based on Dr Eric Manheimer’s memoir, ‘Twelve Patients: Life and Death in Bellevue Hospital.’This emotional medical drama revolves around the mantra ‘Break the Rules, Heal the System’ and one brilliant doctor’s challenge to change the status quo in this underfunded and understaffed hospital. The cast includes Ryan Eggold, Freema Agyeman, Janet Montgomery, Jocko Sims, Tyler Labine and our own Anupam Kher.
Tyler Labine as Dr. Iggy Frome, Wai Ching Ho as June Chiang and Anupam Kher as Dr. Vijay Kapoor. Photo by Virginia Sherwood/NBCThe creation of this fast-moving weekly serial has taken several months. So, Kher has become a constant traveler and a part-time resident of Manhattan, trying to juggle his life on two continents. Not only does he have his huge following of Indian fans but with ‘New Amsterdam’ he has gained many American fans who refer to him as Dr Vijay Kapoor and seem to have no problem with a traditional Indian name. He comes across as an empathetic physician, gentle, wise and smart. Kher is now often stopped on the street by Americans and as one fan tweeted, “He has become my favorite on the show. My heart!”
Recently, I had the experience of visiting the celebrated actor in his New York adda, his sleek apartment in a luxurious hi-rise on the Upper West Side, facing the Hudson River. He had just returned from a day of shooting in Brooklyn but showed me around his two-bedroom apartment which has views of the glittering New York skyline from every room.
With Anupam Kher, it’s warm desi hospitality always, especially on a blustery, rainy day and he requested his assistant Datta, affectionately called Dattu, to whip up some hot chai. So there I was, nibbling on mathis and hot tea, listening to Anupam Kher’s American life unfold.
Christine Chang as Agnes Kao, Anupam Kher as Dr. Vijay Kapoor. Photo by Virginia Sherwood/NBCSo what is life like, being a part-time New Yorker?
Says Kher, “It’s a completely different life – it’s the life of a newcomer! Can you imagine the circle of working for 34 years and then I’m living like a newcomer, which is the most amazing thing in the world.” Indeed, it’s almost like being reborn.
Since Dr Vijay Kapoor is one of the principal characters in the drama of ‘New Amsterdam’, Kher works at least four-five days a week, and sometimes 12 hours a day. He is an actor first and foremost, and totally focused on work. Everything is organised to a fine point, and if shooting is at 5 am in the morning, he is expected to be in the car to be driven to the shooting, without anyone pampering him, saying, “Ji Gaddi agaye hai - aap aa jao!”
Kher’s life in Mumbai is on hold as he has not signed any new work there with his commitments in New York, and his good staff and teachers are looking after his school in Mumbai. His wife Kirron who is a member of parliament is currently in her constituency of Chandigarh. He misses a lot of things about shooting in India such as working in one’s own country amongst one’s own people, the atmosphere and the ease which comes with that but being a life-long learner, he feels he is learning so much in New York.
“The best part about working here is that you are treated like anybody else, which is so amazing to be able to do, to be able to discover yourself,” he says. “Sometimes when people give you this seniority business, it also makes you feel complacent. I'm competing with the youngest actors and the idea is to be able to be friends with them. I don't come here with the baggage of being Anupam Kher who has done so much work. I am here without any baggage. So that's fantastic to be completely like a newcomer – although I’m a newcomer who can afford a little bit of luxury!”
Tyler Labine as Dr. Iggy Frome, Ryan Eggold as Dr. Max Goodwin, Anupam Kher as Dr. Vijay Kapoor, Freema Agyeman as Dr. Helena Sharpe and Janet Montgomery as Dr. Lauren Bloom. Photo by Francisco Roman/NBCAsked about the steps in becoming a temporary New Yorker and what he has discovered about himself in the process, Kher admits that if this rebirth had to be in any other city, he might have been hesitant about doing this. New York: “I love the city because it has all kinds of people who come here, it is a city with no one particular culture, it is a city which keeps on walking, it is a city with amazing places to eat.”
Mostly it has taught him an important truth: “I have learned that life can be started at 63. I think that start had to be in New York – it could not be in any other city. New York does not give you a complex about your age, about your knowledge, about anything. Like Mumbai, it is the most large-hearted city.”
Kher is certainly discovering new things in Manhattan, making friends with perfect strangers as well as connecting with old friends. “ I walk and walk and I am on the streets. I eat, I go with my assistant to buy vegetables. I've never done all this - I did not even know so many of these things.” He also has the time to do his training and to write, and has almost finished his autobiography.
Indians have been delighted to have Kher here and have honored and feted him everywhere from the power players at MIT to the humblest taxi driver. On his part, Kher is full of admiration for the success and the patriotism of Indian-Americans: “They all have one thing in common – and that’s India.”
The first season of ‘New Amsterdam’ concluded this week and after a break, the new season will return on January 8. In the meantime, Kher continues to work on upcoming episodes before traveling to India for a break.
While the roles in the West may be rolling in, Anupam Kher is very clear-eyed about who he is: “God has been kind to me. The industry has been kind to me. Whatever I'm today is thanks to the Indian film industry. I am at the end of it, an Indian actor in the United States. At the end of it, I will always want to be known as an Indian actor. It is just my horizons are bigger, my horizons are wider and I want to look at every possibility.”
Lavina Melwani is a New York-based journalist who blogs at Lassi with Lavina.
First Published: Nov 30, 2018 6:05 AM IST
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