This Sunday night, if you happen to head to the Marina or Elliots Beach for a drive, you might just spot Sharman Joshi. It’s been many years since the actor visited the city, and he hopes to do a bit of exploring.
But that’ll be late in the night. Much after he gets Chennai laughing with his rib-tickling Hindi play, Raju Raja Ram Aur Mein , which he’s staging in the city for the first time.
Born to a Gujarati theatre veteran with plenty of on-stage training, Sharman has recently made a comeback, of sorts, to drama after a long while. “I starred in the Gujarati version of the same play 10 years ago,” he says, “When we decided to premiere the Hindi version recently, it was like going home. I was nervous for the first three shows but after that, I got to know where the rooms were and where the switch was.”
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It wasn’t easy. Not just because he was returning after a while, but also due to the fact that he was playing four roles in the play directed by Kedar Shinde. “Yes, that is quite challenging,” he admits. Though the play is a comedy, one particular character got his attention the most. “He’s called Raja Galgale and playing him is so intimidating,” says Sharman, “He talks to himself! Getting that right is quite difficult.”
He’s taken a while to get back ‘home’, which is how he describes theatre. He’s been busy outside….on film sets. After a string of memorable roles in Bollywood, his character in Rajkumar Hirani’s 3 Idiots andthefilm’s fame catapulted him to international fame. “Even now, they associate me with that film. It had a global reach. Recently, after the staging of my play, some people recollected the scenes in the film with so much detail like they’d seen it just the other day.”
That kind of recognition gets him super excited. “This is one of those films that will last. It will be the
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Currently, on the films front, Sharman is busy promoting Super Nani , his forthcoming Bollywood film directed by Indra Kumar. “He (Indra) is such a professional. He’ll go to any lengths to get his vision translated on screen. For Super Nani , he actually re-shot some scenes so that they came out perfectly… and he’s very candid about it.”
This movie, that’s set to release later this month, also sees the star teaming up with actor Rekha, whom he describes as a ‘living legend’. “We have a common joke — the last time I acted in a film with Rekha ji ( Lajja in 2001), I played her son. And now, in Super Nani , I play her grandson. She says that the next time we’re cast together, I’ll play her great grandson!”