“I MISS THE GOLMAAL FRANCHISE” SHARMAN JOSHI

SHARMAN JOSHI tells JYOTHI VENKATESH

It was the evergreen actor Prem Chopra who had introduced me to him several years ago as his son in law since he has married his daughter Prerna. I met the actor recently for the promotion of his next release Babloo Bachelor starring Sharman Joshi, Pooja Gupta and introducing Tejshree Pradhan, in which he plays the role of a young guy called Babloo, who obviously is a bachelor. The film has been directed by Agnidev Agnihotri, who is making his debut as a director for the first time in a Hindi film though he has to his credit several Bengali films.

It is over 20 years since Sharman has been acting in Hindi films though it is his shy nature that his preventing him from reaching the top. Even when I asked him for his number, Sharman who knows me very well, asked his Man Friday to give his number to me instead of giving me his number. At the outset, Sharman said that his biggest advantage as well as disadvantage is that he has a baby face.

“I am proud and feel good that I have made it without having a Godfather in this fickle film industry. It goes with my personality as I feel that no one else can help anyone in this field as it is a performer’s field. Look at Sachin. In the field of cricket, he has to bat himself to prove himself, though it will be a great advantage if you are lucky enough to have a Godfather for yourself”

Sharman continues modestly.”While it is great to know that people consider me a good actor and want to see me more on-screen, I know that I came from nowhere. I was doing theatre when I got my first film Vinay Shukla’s Godfather based on my merit.''

Sharman confesses that though for four years consecutively, he was working only with Vidhu Vinod Chopra, he is not his Godfather. “Sadly Vidhu Vinod Chopra makes only one film in four years or else I’d have been working only for him in every film that he sets out to make as he has a great track record as a producer”. Like he had worked for Vidhu Vinod Chopra in Rajkumar Hirani’s 3 Idiots, he had also worked for Ajay Sinha in his 2 Bachelors.

In Babloo Bachelor, which he says is a romantic comedy; Sharman is playing the title role of a bachelor boy who is in search of the perfect girl in his life, with Pooja Chopra and Tejshri Pradhan as his leading ladies.” Babloo Bachelor is based in U.P, where a well to do family always dreams of their son’s wedding with great pomp and splendor. I meet a few girls for my wedding but do not get the right one.

Says Sharman, “Mazaa aa gaya to work with two amazingly beautiful actresses like Pooja and Tejshri in Babloo Bachelor. I had earlier worked with Pooja in Tom Dick & Harry while Tejshri is a very well known and popular Marathi stage, film as well as TV actress. It was I who had suggested the name of Tejsjri Pradhan to the director to play the role of the acting aspirant bride.”

Sharman Joshi is also very excited about working with Umesh Shukla in the film Aankh Micholi, which is a tried and tested comedy which has been adapted from a hit Gujarati play, besides Sanjay Gupta’s Mumbai Saga.”I try not to repeat any genre of film, because I want to keep myself excited forever in my job. I want to keep myself entertained as an actor in all the films which I set out to do. If you are lucky, your film does great business at the box office and keeps your name alive. If it does not run, as an actor, you are dejected especially as no one will remember you after the film flops after you have put in so much of your hard work. Like no one will remember the fact that I was part of a Rekha starrer like Super Nani or for that matter War Chod Na Yaar or Ajay Sinha’s 2 Bachelors or Kaashi In Search of Ganga or  The Graham Staines Story which was based on the real-life incident of the late Australian Christian missionary Graham Staines.

Sharman is frank enough to confess the fact that he does miss his Golmaal franchise as an actor and says that he is game to be a part of the franchise as and when Rohit Shetty deems it fit to call him to be part of the film once again, though rumors insist that he ceased to be a part of the franchise because Rohit was cut up when he asked for an increased remuneration for acting in Golmaal after his part turned out to be a big hit.

Sharman Joshi admits that it has been a great experience working under the direction of a debut director like Agnidev Agnihotri. “It is not the frits time that I have acted under the tutelage of a first time director because earlier I have worked with Vinay Shukla in Godfather and Faraz Haider in War Chod Na Yaar.”

Sharman continues after a breather. “As an actor, I always make it a point to work on my own intuition. There has also been a major change in the way I perform if you compare my performance in recent times with the ones I have done earlier as an actor. I think of late I have succeeded in choosing better roles. I feel that I am in a relaxed state of mind as an actor these days than earlier.  My approach as an actor to a role too has also undergone a radical change nowadays, which helps me pick up better roles in keeping with my maturity as an actor, instead of choosing each and every role that I am offered.” Sharman signs off. “I have got all my films based on my merit and that is all I can do. I cannot control the opportunity or the fate of a film.”