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Actor Sharad Kelkar recalled his first day working on the the first major film of his career, Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram Leela, directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali. He said that having worked only on TV shows so far, he was astonished at what he perceived as pure wastefulness on set. But, he said, he later came to realise how vital the extravagance was to Bhansali’s vision.
The actor appeared on Cyrus Broacha’s podcast, where he spoke about his struggles in the film and television industry. He said that even though he was making good money on TV, he was interested in the respect that doing films would bring him.
Sharad recalled, “One of my initial films was Ram Leela. The set was at Film City, and on my first day there, there was a crowd of 1000 people in the studio, plus the crew, plus the main actors. We had more than a day of rehearsals. Mere dil pe lag raha tha kitne paise waste ho rahe hain, kitne paise waste karenge yeh log, itne mein toh main 13-15 minute shoot kar leta (I thought they were wasting so much money, I could have shot 15 minutes of footage). It was a shocker for me, because I came from TV.”
Asked if he really thought they were wasting time, Sharad said, “Not really.” He continued, “Once I had done the film, and seen it at the screening, I came out and hugged Sanjay sir. I told him, ‘Now I know the meaning of big film’. Because I was used to getting work done quickly. With films, you need to take time. I’ll give it to Sanjay sir, because he’s one of the few filmmakers who gives time to every aspect of filmmaking.”
Starring Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh, Ram Leela was a hit at the box office, and the first of Bhansali’s three collaborations with the two stars. His last film was Gangubai Kathiawadi, starring Alia Bhatt, and he will next direct the pilot of his Netflix series Heeramandi.
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