When Shreyas Talpade made his Bollywood debut with the role of a deaf-mute cricketer in the film Iqbal, it sky-rocketed his popularity and gave a glimpse of the acting calibre he holds. 17 years later, the actor hit the ball out of the park with yet another cricket flick where he stepped into the shoes of Pravin Tambe. In almost two decades, the ‘Om Shanti Om’ actor’s career has witnessed several ups and downs.
Besides films, his Marathi television show Mazhi Tuzhi Reshimgath is also a hit among the audience and he is simultaneously continuing his work on his OTT platform which recently completed one year.
In a candid chat with News18.com, the actor who had dubbed for Allu Arjun in the Hindi version of Pushpa: The Rise says that this can be considered a new phase of his career or his second innings. He also says that ‘Kaun Pravin Tambe?’ came at the right time as it helped him convince people that he can do more than just comic roles.
Excerpts from the interview:
What was Pravin Tambe’s reaction after watching the film?
He saw the entire KKR scene and got very emotional and couldn’t speak for a while. That was the biggest reward as an actor because, for me, it was a huge responsibility to make sure that I justified the role on-screen. It was important that whatever he has done for those 20 years was portrayed in the right manner. So when he called me up and said, ‘I saw the film and I’m sorry that I didn’t see Shreyas Talpade, I saw Pravin Tambe’, that was the best compliment I received.
From Iqbal to Kaun Pravin Tambe, how have things changed for you in these 17 years?
This year has been pretty phenomenal. First of all the show that I’m doing for Zee Marathi is a huge success and people are loving it. And then Pushpa came in and I received an unbelievable kind of response for it, which was followed by Kaun Pravin Tambe. So it feels like a dream and life has changed immensely.
The phase before that was the pandemic which was not great for any of us. Also, my film before that didn’t really work at the Box Office. A few of them worked but didn’t really benefit me and people had started having doubts about my potential as an actor. If I am really done with acting, and if I should start looking for alternate careers. Sometimes it leads to self-doubt also but then I always remember one line that Johnny Lever sir had said that the world is round and time also goes around in circles. Your time might not be good right now but it will turn around. You just have to wait till that time, be patient with discipline and keep doing your work.
Now when I step out, it is a completely different world with half of the people wanting to click pictures with me.
So would you call this a new phase or the second chapter of your career?
Definitely. In fact, a lot of people have said is this Shreyas 2.0 and I said it could be. Kaun Pravin Tambe, in a way, is a redefining moment in my film career which has technically given me a second chance when most people seemed to have written me off. There were a few who believed in me, people as Neeraj Pandey, Sheetal Bhatia, Sudeep Tiwari, and director Jayprad Desai and gave me a second opportunity to prove myself. I am glad they did that with a film like this. I feel this is my second innings.
Did filmmakers typecast you as a comic actor prior to this and how hard was it to break that?
Yes, that was the most unfortunate thing that happened because I had started with a very serious film like Iqbal. I remember immediately after that, I had auditioned for a comedy film and I was rejected because the director said that you have a very serious image and I don’t know how people will accept you in a comedy role. However, I did a lot of comedy after that and people loved it and I became known as an actor with great comic timing. Then it became very important for me to challenge, redefine myself and re-evolve as someone who can do serious roles as well.
If ‘Kaun Praveen Tambe?’ wouldn’t come into my life then probably it would have become very difficult for me to convince people, especially new-age filmmakers that I can do serious roles.
With the success of films like Pushpa, RRR and even your Marathi show, do you think regional cinema is giving competition to Bollywood?
Without a doubt, yes. The audience was waiting for films like Pushpa, RRR and KGF 2. The Hindi film industry and all of us will have to pull up our socks and make sure that we rise to the competition. I tend to look at this in a healthy manner. Competiton is always necessary because that way we will end up giving more and better products to our audiences. If they are paying Rs 500 and coming to the theatre, then they need to feel that it was worth every penny. That’s what we should give our audience and it can happen only with great competition.
Take Pushpa for example. There were some people in the North who were not aware of who Allu Ji is but today they know Allu Arjun. Similarly, there are so many stars in Marathi, Gujarati, Punjabi or Bengali industries and if all those filmmakers have an opportunity to dub their films in all languages and put them out in theatres, who knows, they might create history.
Your OTT platform for theatres completed one year as well. How has that experience been?
Wonderful! Who would have thought that I would launch the world’s first OTT platform dedicated to drama and performing arts? We have some great content and tie-up happening for 9 Rasas. We want to make sure that theatre reaches every little household in India and abroad. That is our vision and of course, it is going to be an overnight thing. It will take time but I am willing to give it that time. We are a baby right now and we intend to go out there with full force and make our presence felt in the next couple of years.
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