Actor Shishir Sharma, who has made his own mark in the entertainment industry with his persona on and off-screen, gets candid with The Pioneer, discussing the central theme of his just
released project Dil Dosti Dilemma, playing grandpa on-screen, the age
factor in the industry,
and more.
Tejal Sinha
Love is the greatest gift that one generation can leave to another. While the love and learning that we get from parents is incomparable, so is it with grandparents too. Grandparents can be an incredibly valuable resource. Simply being close to them reassures one a lot about change and continuity—what has come before and what will come after.
In an era when youth, particularly those living in cities, are becoming increasingly disconnected from their roots, Dil Dosti Dilemma, streaming on Prime Video, tells a story about coming of age and making amends with grandparents. But does it prove to be an important lesson for youngsters to learn? Well, certainly not!
Because our guest for the day, Shishir Sharma, a much-celebrated actor not only in television but also in movies with his small yet remarkable stints like Fanaa, Dangal, Chichhore, Uri: The Surgical Strike, Gaslight, and many more, who palsy the character of Asmara’s Nana (maternal grandfather), feels that it is a very important lesson to learn for all of us and just not the youngsters.
“I think the older generations have also learned from these youngsters to listen to them and see their POV as well,” begins the Raazi star. “It’s not just about hopping on our POV all the time. It’s not imposing our rigidity on them. We need to be more flexible in our thoughts, and her mother taking that stand was so important. It was impulsive but also very right in terms of values that she has to learn; just not being on a readily available road is not going to give you everything in life. Coming to your grandparents’ house, staying in their house, learning in their house, and the value system in their house, which Tanvi Ji teaches and tells her, I didn’t have any such interaction with her in the show, but she learns that, she understands that, and she doesn’t mind going into that world with her friends with that value system and forgetting those values that she was imbibing previously. She comes to a different road altogether.”
As he further went on to discuss much in detail on the theme, he also enunciated us through one of the scenes where Asmara apologises to her Nanni, Akhtar Begum, and that’s the value system that she learns.
And for such a value system to be imbibed, he also highlights that there needs to be two-way communication. “There has to be a dialogue from both sides, and none can keep quiet. You cannot keep quiet and be like you tell us what to do. You need to tell us what you think you should be doing.”
The Tanu Weds Manu Returns actor knew that to make his character feel realistic, he had to certainly play it as real as possible.“I didn’t want to make it look like a grandpa,which is fictitious,and people would think that this guy is just putting it on,” says the Kurbaan actor. “I wanted to be as real as possible as a grandfather, not someone who is always giving advice but also playful at times. For example, there was a scene where I said Tumne kabhi sooraj dekha hai (Have you ever seen the sun?), which means playfulness. It was a situation that could have gotten out of hand.”
As senior actors, there’s always a notion that the scenes on the sets will be quite strict and serious. But that wasn’t the case here. He revealed that he and Tanvi Azmi were all fun off-camera. “We wanted the sets to be as vibrant as possible. The director also enjoyed the banter. When you are on the sets, you want to be with everyone.”
While there’s quite a talk on the age factor and typecast, the Disco Raja actor highlights, “You don’t get roles because you are so and so. The same thing has happened with me because of my persona. People didn’t think that I’d be able to play a light-hearted or jovial person on set. This particular show proves it. I have told directors and production houses to give me a chance. I am an actor, and if I can take a gun and shoot someone on-screen, then I can also make people laugh, so why don’t you just give me a chance? I wouldn’t say I am typecast just because I played two army officers, one from the Indian army and one from the Pakistani army. That doesn’t mean I am typecast. They are two different perspectives, individuals, and thoughts.”
On a concluding note, he further goes on to say, “People should understand that we are actors and we need to be given that chance. Just because one looks like that and because there’s a kind of persona, that doesn’t matter. One should be given the opportunity to play something different for them to understand. People need to understand we are capable and can do things out of the box.”
