Veteran actor Murali Sharma who is a known face in Hindi, Marathi, Telugu, Tamil, and Malayalam cinema is now all geared up to make his Kannada film debut with Kabzaa. Murali has featured in more than 200 films and has always been appreciated for his impeccable acting mettle. He is majorly known for playing cop roles in films and often plays pivotal roles in Rohit Shetty’s films.
Now, in an exclusive interview with PeepingMoon.com, Murali spoke about his role in period drama Kabzaa, sharing screen space with Shriya Saran, Upendra and Kichcha Sudeep in the film and working with director J Chandru and more.
Excerpts from the interview:
You will be soon making your debut in the Kannada film, Kabzaa. Could you tell us something about your role in the film?
I play Shriya Saran’s father in the film and belong to a royal family; it’s a period drama, a very interesting story. Previously also I had got a couple of offers for period films but Kabzaa was irresistible and Chandru, our director was so clear in his vision and he intends to make the film in all major languages, pan-India kind of a thing; and I also realised when I heard it that it’s an interesting script which has the strength to go into all possible languages. It’s a very interesting role and I had some very interesting scenes. I shot for around ten days with them and it was a great experience to begin with.
Welcome On Board @murlisharma72
Sir https://t.co/AHqkajJ3dI#Kabzaa #RealStarUpendra #BaadshahKichchaSudeepa @nimmaupendra @KicchaSudeep #BarghavBhakshi @rchandru_movies @RaviBasrur #AnandAudio pic.twitter.com/V6B5ePyHKO— aanandaaudio (@aanandaaudio) April 18, 2022
We’ve generally seen you doing cop roles on antagonist roles in Bollywood, how was the experience of being a part of a period drama in Kabzaa?
I had a great experience and I am one of those actors who blindly follow the director. Chandru was so clear in his vision and his story on paper, as I strongly believe that there is where a film begins i.e on paper. I always listen to my directors like how we listen to our teachers in school, so Chandru was so clear and he correctly and perfectly knew what he wanted. Like if in one shot if we continue, he will shout ‘cut’ and tell us that, ‘no sir, I need it only till here,’ he was so perfectly clear what he wanted in the film. Like I said, there was so much drama and it’s a period film, depicting the royal family so I think it will make an interesting film.
How was your experience of sharing screen space with Upendra, Shriya and Kichcha Sudeep?
I’ve seen Shriya for such a long time, she has done some fantastic works and working with her was a great experience. With Upendra, I worked for the first time and Kicchha Sudeep is also there in the film and I’ve seen a lot of his work. I could not shoot with Sudeep for the film but working with Upendra and Shriya was fantastic, we gelled very well; when you work with like-minded actors who are on the same page, on the same wavelength then it becomes easier and the fun doubles up. As actors the process becomes beautiful and in-between that ‘action’ and ‘cut’ an actor’s life is and that is so beautiful. We bonded very well and since Shriya and I play father and daughter, that chemistry and warmth was developed and I had a great time with Shriya.
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14-01-2021 10:00 .. pic.twitter.com/YXzkpr8tMR— Upendra (@nimmaupendra) January 10, 2021
You’ve worked in Hindi, Marathi, Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam cinema and now you are debuting in Kannada as well. So could you tell us some difference between these industries, how things are different?
I don’t see much difference except that of language because emotions are same all across. Except the language I don’t think there is much of a difference or maybe I have not observed because when I go on the sets I only think about the scene and how can I bring a difference and following the director’s vision.
Would you be keen on exploring web shows? What genre would you like to take up?
Genre is not of great importance but the role needs to excite me. I have not done anything on web till now, not because of lack of offers but because of some other factors like content that you may not be very comfortable with, money or time. So I am still listening, right now also I am in talks for some Telugu show, listening to some very-very interesting scripts but sometimes it works sometimes it doesn’t. But I believe that a script finds you so I am not in a hurry to jump on the bandwagon. I believe when it’s the right time and the right script I will do a web show because OTT is right there, you can’t ignore it or be oblivious to it; it reminds me of when the satellite television came in, everyone was hooked on to it and most with the saas-bahu and the related trend, and you could not miss it then so I feel OTT is also somewhat like that. It is a vast space and they are coming up with some very interesting content and there is no point in taking names about shows that I was supposed to do or shows that I said no to, but I will definitely take up web series if something interesting meets my eye.
What are your future projects?
In Hindi there is Rohit Shetty’s Cirkus, in Telugu, which I think will be my next release is a very interesting franchise called F3 which is a comedy film. F2, the previous part was a very big blockbuster in Telugu starring Venkatesh, Varun Tej, Tamannaah Bhatia and Mehreen Pirzada and now F3 is coming up and I have a very beautiful role in it. Besides these, I am shooting a couple of films in Telugu which are about to be announced and my life has turned ten-fold after the release of Allu Arjun’s Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo, so I am looking forward to doing more interesting roles.
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