Every Performer wants to Reach Out to a Larger Audience

His excellence is portraying various characters. Be it playing a physically disabled person in Iqbal, a street smart guy in Apna Sapna Money Money, a student leader in Dil Dosti Etc., a villager in Welcome to Sajjanpur or a junior artist in Om Shanti Om – Shreyas Talpade has beautifully painted various characters in the few years that he has been a part of the movie industry. And this time around he will be seen playing a dumb guy in 3 Thay Bhai – a film produced by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra. We decided to let him speak the film, his love for acting and his ambitions around it.

Shreyas Talpade

Over to Shreyas Talpade:

I play a struggling Punjabi actor in 3 Thay Bhai. He considers that what he is doing is “time pass”, just for pocket money. But his ambition is to reach Hollywood. My character believes he is made for Hollywood and he is waiting for the day when someone comes and recognizes his talent.

No, the desire to reach out to Hollywood is not foolish. It is the character. The wish to reach out to a larger audience is always there in every performer.

I got popular in school because I used to do dramas. People used to know me. In college too I was popular because of theatre. I used to get trophies for my college and my name used to be recognized. People start appreciating my work. All these built an urge to expose myself to more people. From there I went on to do Marathi television and then Hindi television. Then I did Marathi films and subsequently Hindi films happened. It is just about trying to get more people to see your work. So Hollywood is just a logical expansion!

Plus the wish to be a part of a Hollywood film also comes from the fact that they make wonderful films. The filmmakers and technicians there make films like Avatar and Inception possible – films which are completely beyond us. We can only wish that we were associated with such films in any way possible.

But then it is not like our actors are not approached. We cannot deny the fact that people who have established themselves here will look for meatier roles. You want to be a good part of good film.

Having said that, I have had opportunities to work with some great directors and consider myself lucky for that. I have worked with directors who are very diverse in their approach to filmmaking – be it Farah Khan, Shyam Benegal, Nagesh Kukunoor or Rohit Shetty. And now I am working with Shirish Kunder.

One thing an actor should be able to do is understand the particular style of filmmaking that the director adheres to. The job gets easier and things automatically fall into place. And I hope I can keep everyone entertained like this as long as possible.

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