Books and stories have the power to influence people. Agreeing to this, actor Anupam Kher recently revealed at an event that books have indeed helped him as an actor. "Reading opens up your world view... Books have helped me a lot as an actor and I love to read as much as I can. I used to pick up books and got some of the best collections from the street vendors in Daryaganj in Old Delhi," the veteran actor said.
When we asked him to name a few books which made an impact on him, he shared, "Oh plenty! Unfortunately I have stopped reading much now, but I have a personal collection of some 14000 books. That whole library went haywire in the 2005 floods (in Mumbai)... 'Lust for Life' by Irving Stone tells Vincent van Gogh's story and it was a very important book for me during my days of struggle."
He further said, "There's another book by Russian novelist Nikolai Ostrovsky called 'How The Steel Was Tempered' which I liked. Charlie Chaplin's autobiography was very important (as well)... Munshi Premchand ji's stories and Anton Chekhov's stories too."
It's noted that Kher has also written a few books, namely 'The Best Thing About You is You!', 'Lessons Life Taught Me, Unknowingly: An Autobiography', and 'Your Best Day Is Today!' which are all based on his life experiences. When we asked him if he plans to write fiction anytime soon, Kher replied, "I can't write books which I haven't experienced. So the books that I wrote are the ones which came from within me."
Anupam Kher's last book 'Your Best Day Is Today!' released in December 2020.
