Sharad Kelkar calls 'voice acting' a 'responsible job'

Mumbai: Voice acting is a ‘responsible job’ and for actor Sharad Kelkar, his performance behind the screen as Lord Ram in the Hindi language dub of ‘Adipurush’, the multilingual period saga, is the ‘most challenging’ role to date. In the project, Kelkar lends his voice to Telugu star Prabhas, for whom he previously dubbed the superhit ‘Baahubali’ franchise.

One false note from the voice actor can destroy all the work that the actor on screen has put in, added Kelkar, who will next voice for actor Nani’s Telugu movie ‘Dasara’.

“Voice acting is a responsible job because you are lending your voice to someone else who has performed with all his heart out. Your one mistake can ruin his performance. So, I am responsible for lending my voice, whether it is for Lord Ram or Nani’s character. Lord Ram is the most challenging one. It is a matter of pride for me also to give a voice to ‘Adipurush’,” Kelkar told the top news agency.

‘Adipurush’ is directed by Om Raut of ‘Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior’ fame and produced by Bhushan Kumar-led ‘T-Series’. It is set to release in June.

Best known for his performance in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s ‘Ram Leela’, web series ‘The Family Man’ and ‘Tanhaji’, Kelkar said there have been times when he felt pigeonholed due to his baritone.

“As an actor, it is a disadvantage for me because it is difficult for people to imagine me in different roles. They tend to offer me similar kinds of roles because I have a certain personality and voice, which they think can go well with a particular range of characters, like a cop or a villain. I try to do different kinds of stuff. I am trying to prove again and again that I have a good voice, but my strength is my acting. It (voice) is an added advantage and I don’t take credit for that voice as such,” he said.

His latest release is the heist drama ‘Chor Nikal Ke Bhaga’, also starring Yami Gautam and Sunny Kaushal. It is directed by Ajay Singh and produced by Amar Kaushik and Dinesh Vijan of ‘Maddock Films’. In the upcoming ‘Netflix’ film, the 46-year-old actor plays Shaikh, a character he described as an important government officer investigating the heist.

Kelkar said he was keen to explore the genre of heist films and found the movie’s story interesting.

“People don’t make heists or hijack films with a twist in India. Maybe the story is fine but the execution goes wrong and sometimes the execution is high-level but the story or screenplay falls flat. I had heard this story earlier as writers Amar and writer Siraj Ahmed had narrated the story.”