Aanjjan Srivastav: Through RK Laxman I found brilliance in subtlety of acting

Mumbai, Jan 26 : Veteran actor Aanjjan Srivastav recalled his first encounter with RK Laxman on the sixth death anniversary of the legendary cartoonist.
Aanjjan worked with the legend in the 80s on the show “Wagle Ki Duniya”, which was based on the characters created by Laxman.
Remembering Laxman, the actor said: “After 1988 I have been known as Wagle. The character of ‘Wagle Ki Duniya’ was created by legendary cartoonist and storyteller RK Laxman. I am known as Wagle because of him. I vividly remember my first encounter with him. It was way back in the 80s. Neither of us knew each other.” “It was because of late Kundan Shah ji that I crossed paths with Mr. Laxman. Kundan Shah ji (the show’s director) had called me for a meeting where I first met RK Laxman. I didn’t really know what was the meeting about and I wasn’t aware for which show I had been called for. All Kundan Shah ji asked of me was to read a dialogue, which I read in my own style. It was then RK Laxman had the first conversation with me and said that my dialogue delivery was too loud. Right after that he effortlessly narrated the entire dialogue and I was simply mesmerised by him,” he added.
Aanjjan recalled that though Laxman found him loud during the first reading, it was the cartoonist who decided that the actor should do the first episode.
“It was through Mr. RK Laxman that I found the brilliance in the subtlety of acting. He reminded me that the essence of the audio and visual acting can be reflected just through your eyes and facial expressions,” he said.