Seasoned actor Shivaji Satam is calm, cool and composed and quite akin to the character, ACP Pradyuman, he essays in the popular serial CID on Sony Entertainment Channel. This becomes amply clear when one sees him dealing with the deluge of mediapersons after an event on serial at Le Meridien in New Delhi this week as he betrays no sign of tension, unease and irritation. Aditya Srivastava and Dayanand Shetty (playing seniors inspectors, Abhijeet and Daya in the serial), too were part of the event.
Having been launched in 1998, the longest running television serial has not fatigued Satam. “Physical fatigue comes when working from 10 in the morning to 10 at night. One does get tired physically but there is no mental fatigue, neither from the character nor the serial. The day that happens then it will be over for me,” he reveals. Associated with the serial from day one, Satam automatically became a part of it since B.P. Singh its creator, producer and director and he go a long way. “I have worked with him in many Marathi serials, including Ek Shunya Shunya which was the most popular show during the black and white days on Doordarshan. When he offered me the role in CID, naturally I became a part of it.”
What impresses one is not the long run of the serial but that it has managed to sustain the audience interest for almost two decades. The noted actor ascribes it to many reasons. “We keep bringing something new to the series so that it does not stagnate, like forensic science thereby ensuring production values. Experimentation in the show also works very well. Importantly, the core characters of CID are not just caricatures. They have never been thanks to Singh’s creativity as he has given a definite body and depth to each and every character and evolved them with time.” The actor gives equal share of the success to the contribution made by the actors and the script. “Each actor has influenced the character he plays by adding a layer to it while the script has always managed to impact the audience.”
It comes as a surprise when Satam confesses that he never thought of becoming an actor. Having done chemistry and business administration and worked in a bank, he describes his journey from there to the make believe world of acting as “amazing”. An enthusiast of outdoor sports, like cricket, volleyball and even kabbadi, says with a smile on lips, “I was interested in all these things and not studies.”
He attributes the strong presence of theatre in Maharashtra for turning him into an artist. He pointedly cites the Ganapathi Utsav, during which he, like other children, got a chance to witness many folk items and folk and modern theatre. Without his being aware he got hooked to it. “Somewhere down the line that must have influenced me and may be the seed was sown then even though I still had not thought about becoming an actor as I was a shy kind of person and did suffer from stage fright.” Satam was destined to become a stage actor and as he says “somebody pushed me into it and somebody pulled me into it.”
The once reluctant actor gives full credit to the stage for laying the foundation of his success in acting career. “The foundation was laid by theatre. I learnt everything about acting from it, that is, the Marathi theatre. Right from the disciple, to the craft, to the basics and believe me I am still learning. Whenever I watch theatre, for example, the inter-college theatre festival I get to learn so many things,” says Satam. He feels observation and experience of varied events and happenings contribute to make an actor learn consciously or sub-consciously.
Satam does not find it difficult to move from one visual medium to another though he points out that there is inherent difference in television, theatre and films. “In theatre you have to reach out to the audience on the last row to ensure they listen and feel your acting. The body has to speak not just the eyes and the dialogue. In TV, a medium of tight close ups one has to understand the balance in the scene and how to project it. There is a certain amount of understatement. I use my eyes a lot in them. Films have a larger and wider canvas.”
Though he has essayed some memorable roles in films like Ghulam-e-Mustafa, Daag: The Fire, Sooryavansham, Nayak: The Hero, he feels there is a lack of meatier roles. “In Marathi films I have done some meaningful roles like my favourite Uttarayan which won a National Award for the Best Feature Film. It is rarely you get roles like that since there is a dearth of films of this type.” Additionally he is so preoccupied with CID that he is unable to find time. He is happy though that he got a chance to display his histrionics in Dev Benegal’s Split Wide Open in which he plays a paedophile.
“Till date, I have played only those characters and done only those projects which I wanted to. That holds true for theatre, films and television,” says Satam to sum up the conversation.
