Ajay Devgn starrer Tanhaji: The Unsung Hero is roaring at the box office. While the film has managed to impress the masses, one actor who surely deserves a mention is Sharad Kelkar. Sharad essays the role of Chattrapati Shivaji Maharaj in the film and the actor made sure that he nailed it to the T. In an exclusive interview with us, Sharad revealed that he was never sceptical to play the demigod character.
Sharad said,
I was not sceptical about it. When the film was announced, there was news that an A-lister will be playing the role. So, there was a lot of news and suddenly when this offer came to me, I was shocked. Later the questions that came to my mind were about the perception of people about him. His physicality, his stature, everything.
He further revealed that director Om Raut always wanted him to essay the character.
Om has done a fantastic job at making the film. His vision for every character was so clear. He told me, “It’s my Raje (King), and I want to see my Raje in a particular way.” So, immediately on the same day, I went to meet him and we did the look test. After the look test, everyone was quite sure that I could play the character and looked like a Chhatrapati.
While the look test confirmed to Sharad that he could essay the character, it was the comment of a young girl which convinced him even more.
The doubts were gone by that time and there was an incident on the first of the shoot as well. On the first day of the shoot, we were shooting the last scene and for an actor, it is very difficult. If you’re shooting on the first day in the get-up for the last scene, you don’t know the graph and what you have to do but there was a girl on the shoot who was looking at me for a long time while we were shooting. Finally, she asked me, “Is that your statue at Mumbai airport?” That’s when I knew that we would connect with the audience.
We were super impressed with Sharad’s role in this period drama and we cannot wait to witness his talent on the 70 mm yet again!