Sharad Kelkar lent his signature deep and husky voice to Prabas’ character in Baahubali: The Beginning and Baahubali 2: The Conclusion. Nine years after the films hit the big screen, Rajamouli’s Baahubali is all set to make a comeback, this time as an animated series. In the web-show Sharad has voiced the prime character of Amarendra Baahubali again.
One may imagine that his Baahubali gig gave Sharad the much deserved recognition for his talent, followed by several offers. While he acknowledges the fact, he also shared how it acted as stumbling block as people approached him only because he had a good voice.
In this interview with indianexpress.com, Sharad revealed that while Baahubali has been his claim to fame, he has also been typecasted. Discussing how Baahubali changed his life, mostly for the good, he says, “Things come with good and bad, both. With Baahubali, obviously, the praise was bigger. The identity was bigger. After Baahubali a lot of filmmakers had started approaching me because of my voice.”
Sharad says while the offers were tempting, he wanted to be a wholesome actor. He says, “I dub well but that doesn’t mean that I’ll do a certain type of role that requires a good voice. I am an actor first, I can perform and when it comes to my voice I can take it to any dimension. They were not approaching me as an actor, so I started saying no to them. Because then it is a very easy cast and I don’t believe in that. I want to try new roles, do new work.”
“Fortunately, in the last two years a lot of people have shown trust in me. You’ll see a different Sharad Kelkar in Srikanth, there is one more film coming in June where too it is a different kind of role. I try and do different kinds of roles so that I am stuck being typecast. I am waiting for the good times, the best to come,” he adds.
Sharad also shared how his life changed after the SS Rajamouli film. “As an actor, as a human, my life changed after Baahubali 1 and 2. After many months, and a few articles, people finally realised that it was my voice. After Baahubali 2, my world completely changed. Ab har chhote chhote gaon mein log pehchante hain humein (people from small towns and villages now recognise me). Now even if I am wearing a mask, or I am in disguise, people identify me by my voice. For any artist, anything that becomes your identity, it’s a great achievement and you become unique in that field.”
Sharad credits filmmaker SS Rajamouli for changing his life. He says, “All the credit goes to SS Rajamouli sir who made me the voice of Baahubali. He chose me for that and gave me the liberty to dub as I perceived the character. During the first part, he used to come in the evening and check all the dubs. While dubbing for the second part he didn’t come, he trusted us with it completely, he’d say, ‘guys, do your job and get out! (Chuckles)’.”
Opening up about how different it is to lend voice for a character in the film versus an animation character, he says, “Working on Crown of Blood was different, yet similar. This time there was no face, no visuals, it is just dubbing first and then the animation. But it was very interesting. It was like going back to childhood when we used to read comic books. I used to have a bunch and I had also subscribed to a library, so every time a new comic book came, I would run and get them. So right now I am as excited as I used to be as a kid. Of course the format has changed, it’s not comic books, it has a series with specialised animation created for the screen and you can watch it with music and there’s a whole lot of action.”
Bahubali: Crown of Blood, directed by Jeevan J Kang and Naveen John and created by Rajamouli and Sharad Devarajan. The animation show will stream on Disney Plus Hotstar from May 17.
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