Model turned actor Sharad Kelkar‘s recent performance in the film ‘Laxmii’ reminded us just how good of an actor he is.
The actor has also played infamous roles in Tanhaji, The Family Man, Agent Raghav – Crime Branch, among many other films and television soaps.
However, we recently found out that Sharad once faced an obstacle and it took him a long time to overcome it. Sharad, although famous for his unique and baritone voice which has also been a part of many dubbed films, once suffered from a stammer.
One of Indian cinema’s biggest successes, Baahubali, also has an interesting fact related to Sharad. Did you know Kelkar was the one who voiced Prabhas’ character ‘Baahubali’ in the Hindi dubbed version of the movie.
Talking about his journey he says, “I started with ad films in 2002. I used to stammer a lot, so modelling is fine, saying one line is fine because you do that after a lot of practice. But when it is about acting in a TV show or a film, it’s a different ballgame altogether.“
Kelkar recalls in an interview how he was once replaced on a show because of the same. “I remember in 2003, I was signed for a Zee TV show. I wasn’t the lead but I was playing a very important character. One or two days passed by easily but on the fifth day, I got a huge one-and-a-half-page dialogue. Either I was speaking very fast, or there wasn’t clarity or I was stammering. My director was patient enough to give me 30 retakes. Ultimately, he called me and asked what’s the issue. I said I won’t be able to do it and he should take someone else. He also understood that I was being honest. Finally, I was replaced on this show.”
Talking about how his team supported him, Sharad says, “I was definitely nervous about my dialogue and performance. But the team supported me. It was my everyday struggle to say my lines with fluency. You can’t get over stammering in one day. It is a problem that you need to work on. It takes a lot of time. The problem is still there. If I become angry or get into an argument, I’ll start stammering.“