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Once a funny man, always a funny man. This adage could have well held true for Sharman Joshi after he made everyone fall off the chairs with his rip-roaring comic act in his film Style a decade ago. Well, the smiles still remained though a certain dramatic element also set in when he did Rang De Basanti and 3 Idiots. Now that he will be seen in his most dramatic film till date with several heart-warming moments in Ferrari Ki Sawaari, Sharman is happy to take everyone for a royal ride. Well, literally!
First things first Sharman, and even though this may sound a little clichéd, is this one ‘sawaari’ that you have enjoyed most in life?
Definitely, yes. In terms of the role given to me and sheer challenge that it brought along, it has been quite a ride. It has definitely put me on an edge as an actor. I needed to push myself to reach the depth of this character and that has made this special for me and the movie as well. This movie is for sure one rollicking sawaari of my life.
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It must have been quite challenging to get into the shoes of a father…
Well, from the physical aspect perspective, it wasn’t actually. Most of the facial things were taken care of by the makeup team. My noise was sharpened and I also put on some weight, which again, was no big deal. The challenge though was to get the emotional aspect of what (director) Rajesh Mapuskar had envisioned. He knew what he wanted and I needed to get there. In Rajesh’s mind, the character was etched out very clearly and for me to get to that level was very exciting and challenging.
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How exactly?
To begin with, the gentleness, ever smiling persona, honesty and the loving/caring nature of this guy were some of the traits I had to absorb. In fact it took me some 30-40 auditions to really become this character. Initially even Rajesh was not so convinced of me, mainly because of the age factor. He had a mind block that I was too young to play a father in the movie. He was not sure of that and that was something that I had to prove to him. It took me a couple of months and many workshops to convince him.
Did your earlier relationship with Vidhu Vinod Chopra help? After all, you have done his 3 Idiots.
See, the core philosophy of Mr. Chopra’s production house is that a director is the captain of the ship and it is in his hands to decide whom he wants in the film or not. When Mr. Chopra saw my auditions, he told me that he would put a good word to Rajesh but ultimately the director’s decision would be the final. Thankfully, Rajesh too was convinced after a while and I was on board.
While this would of course been quite exciting for you, how about your long pending film 3 Bachelors? It was kick-started almost a decade ago. Isn’t it disheartening to see its sudden announcement?
Well, I am not in touch with the producer of 3 Bachelors or anybody else from their unit. Mr. Ajai Sinha has directed the film and it’s very unfortunate that it couldn’t release earlier. However, I have moved on and am looking forward to my upcoming outings.
Ferrari Ki Sawaari releases on 15 June 2012.
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