Sharad Kelkar calls his commanding voice a ‘disadvantage’

Mumbai: Sharad Kelkar said his commanding voice sometimes comes as a disadvantage as he is not considered for common man roles by filmmakers.

The 49-year-old actor has lent his voice to Prabhas in the superhit ‘Baahubali’ franchise, ‘Adipurush’ and ‘Salaar’ and South actor Nani’s Telugu movie ‘Dasara’ and others.

“People think that my voice is my biggest asset; I don’t think so. It’s a disadvantage for you because there are few characters that people can’t offer. Like, if they want to offer me a simple guy, they are pretty hesitant to offer me because they are like, ‘Nahi yaar, his voice is like that. How will he sound as a common man?’” he told PTI.

Kelkar, who garnered wide acclaim for his roles in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s ‘Ram Leela’, web series ‘The Family Man’, ‘Tanhaji: The Unsung Hero’ and Akshay Kumar’s ‘Laxmii’, is thrilled about playing the role of an antagonist in Emraan Hashmi-starrer series, ‘Taskaree: The Smuggler’s Web’, which premiered on ‘Netflix’ on January 14.

Created by Neeraj Pandey and directed by Raghav Jairath, the show revolves around a dedicated customs officer, played by Hashmi and his team as they take on a notorious smuggler (Kelkar).

“If you ask any actor, I think they would love to play a villain; there’s a different shade and you’re free to do a lot of stuff which you want to do as an actor. There is no limit to it. There are boundaries in the script, but it is always fun to play a villain,” Kelkar, who has played negative roles in films like ‘Bhoomi’, ‘1920: Evil Returns’, ‘Operation Romeo’ and ‘Housefull 4’, said.

‘The Family Man’ star said he keeps switching between ‘positive and negative’ characters. “As an actor, I always prefer to shift and it is fun whether it is a hero or villain. Otherwise, life becomes very monotonous. My selection process is very simple: the story, the character and what this character is doing in the story. These are the three things from which I choose what I want to do,” Kelkar added.

‘Taskaree: The Smuggler’s Web’ also stars actors Amruta Khanvilkar, Nandish Singh Sandhu, Anurag Sinha and Zoya Afroz.