In character

“I think there was something in the writings of Pu La,that had a deep impact on me during my growing up years. Something that promoted me to take up acting at a very young age,” he quips when asked about his acting beginnings.

Prabhavalkar who is in the city to be felicitated by the Pu La Bahuroopi Sanman award feels that in many ways this is an achievement of a lifetime. “I grew up watching,rehearsing,and acting on his works,and then I finally even got a chance to meet up with the literary giant himself while performing Ek Zhunj Varyachi and now I am getting this award,which has been instituted in his honour. So maybe as they say,life is coming a full circle for me,” he says adding more about the award.

Prabhavalkar rose to national fame with his role of Mahatma Gandhi in Lage Raho… which according to him,till date was one of his toughest roles. “While essaying any role,an actor has a little bit of creative space to work around with. But while you are taking on the role of the father of the nation,it just has to be precise,” he says. And if essaying the role of the Mahatma was tough,he still feels that Chimanrao was the more definitive roles of his early television days. “There was an innocence that surrounded Chimanrao which identified with the working middle class public of the late 70s,” he smiles.

Prabhavalkar however feels that Marathi Cinema on the whole has changed drastically in the modern times. “It’s probably because of the changing tastes of the audiences,as well the boldness of directors to venture into uncharted territories to make films,” he says. While erstwhile audiences may rue that the golden age of Marathi cinema is long gone,directors today have taken this genre of cinema to global audiences,which in itself is a huge achievement,feels Prabhavalkar.

So what promises does the future hold for theatre artistes,and cinema artistes on the whole? “For starters Marathi cinema needs to have a lot more exposure as the good quality films deserve similar exposure to ensure that they reach out to all audiences. As far as comparing them with the films of yesteryears goes it would be unfair to do so because the films,writers,and actors of today have the capacity of churning out products that would be as iconic as those of literary giants of the yesteryears,in the years to come,” concludes Prabhavalkar.