I Took Up Comedy As A Challenge: Bollywood Actor Shreyas Talpade

Shreyas Talpade is one of the few actors in Bollywood who managed to find success playing both intense as well as comic characters. After impressing everyone with his role of a deaf and mute cricketer in Nagesh Kukunoor바카라™s 2005 coming-of-age sports drama 바카라˜Iqbal바카라™, Talpade has gone on to star in films like 바카라˜Dor바카라™, 바카라˜Om Shanti Om바카라™, 바카라˜Welcome to Sajjanpur바카라™, 바카라˜Golmaal Returns바카라™, 바카라˜Golmaal 3바카라™, 바카라˜Housefull 2바카라™, 바카라˜Great Grand Masti바카라™,  and 바카라˜Golmaal Again바카라™, among others. In this exclusive interview, he talks about his first theatre play, Nine Rasa, an OTT platform dedicated to theatre and performing arts, his Bollywood journey, and much more.

Excerpts:

What was your first play as an actor?

It was a skit in school 바카라“ It was called 바카라˜A Modern Ramayana바카라™ and I played Sita in it and then played Draupadi in 바카라˜Modern Mahabharata바카라™. Professionally my first play on stage was 바카라˜Tour Tour바카라™ which was a huge hit and I was fortunate enough to be a part of it.

Tell us about Nine Rasa?

Nine Rasa is the world바카라™s first-ever OTT platform dedicated to theatre and performing arts. We will have full-length plays, one-act plays, skits, stand-ups, stories, mimes, poetry, song, dance 바카라“ Everything that can happen on stage will be featured in multi Indian languages. To begin with, we have almost 100 odd-hours of original content exclusively shot for the platform. It will appear in a phased manner.

What inspired you to become an actor?

It came from a play in Marathi called 바카라˜Karaar바카라™ which means a contract. It had two actors 바카라“ Satish Pulekar and Swati Chitnis. They are phenomenal actors and I was completely blown. I then decided to be a part of something like that and joined theatre.

Did having a theatre background help you in Bollywood?

Absolutely, no two ways about it. Whatever I am today is all because of the foundation, confidence, and conviction that theatre has given me. Theatre makes you a fearless actor 바카라“ You can jump into any situation and perform and will never say no to any difficult character. The more difficult the role, the more enjoyable it is for the theatre actor.

You바카라™ve done incredible films like 바카라˜Dor바카라™ and 바카라˜Iqbal바카라™ but ended up being typecast as a comic actor. Was that disappointing?

I won바카라™t say that it has been disappointing. I see it like this 바카라“ It is very important and difficult to make people laugh. I took up a comedy film as a challenge because after 바카라˜Dor바카라™ and 바카라˜Iqbal바카라™ people felt that I am a very serious actor. A couple of people didn바카라™t cast me in their comedy films as they thought that audience might not accept me and that is when I decided to take it up as a challenge and luckily I got a breakthrough with 바카라˜Golmaal Returns바카라™.  Later on, that whole era, from 2007 onwards was of multi starrer comedy. I didn바카라™t want to miss out on that but before I could realise, I was doing back to back comedy. Once you are hit and accepted in one genre, people want to see more of that and I enjoy making people laugh. Having said that, I am eagerly waiting to portray a dark and negative role.

You turned a filmmaker in 2017 with 바카라˜Poshter Boyz바카라™. Can we expect something coming up soon on that front?

Yes, I am directing another movie called 바카라˜Sarkaar Ki Sewa Mein바카라™ which we started just before the lockdown and had to push our schedule. However, we are planning to resume the shoot and release it soon.

Going forward, what changes you want to see in the film industry?

The film industry is already changing 바카라“ With the advent of OTT platforms, many new filmmakers, actors, new stories are coming in. The sooner we accept the change, the better for all of us.

How will you sum up your Bollywood journey?

I think it has been a pretty interesting ride till now with a lot of ups and downs. I take one day at a time and each day as it comes, so I feel that every day is a new beginning and the journey has just started. I am looking forward to doing more interesting stuff on OTT platforms, big screen, and of course, stage with Nine Rasa.