Addinath Kothare is an actor who is one of the most sought after Marathi actors today. He is also a National Award winning director for his film Paani. Addinath has also made a mark with his role in Ranveer Singh starrer ’83 playing the role of cricketer Dilip Vengsarkar lovingly called as The Colonel. Now, he is all set to host a new show called Konkan Diaries on Zee Zest that will see him explore the vibrant culture, hidden gems, and local authentic flavours of Maharashtra's Konkan region.
In an exclusive interview with PeepingMoon.com, Addinath spoke about his show, the challenges he faced while shooting for it, his upcoming acting assignments, directorial ventures and more.
Excerpts from the interview:
How was your experience hosting a TV show with Konkan Diaries?
I firstly want to thank Nexa presents Konkan Diaries on Zee Zest for this experience. It was one of a kind experience. This was the first time I am hosting a non-fiction show and this was the best first-time experience that I have ever had. I always wanted to do a non-fictional show because I believe that there's a lot of energy that I love to release sometimes. Because when I'm with my friends when I'm traveling, I'm always the guy who's full of energy in life and that energy needs to be released somewhere. I always want that release of energy and this was a beautiful release for me. Because of the experiences, I was getting with Konkan Diaries and it is such a candid show it's a very real show. We'll be out in the real Konkan belt, in the episodes, in real location. My video blogs, it is my vlogs that has been used and it can't get more candid. It can't get more real, everything was unscripted and on the spot, whether I was afraid or I cried sometimes of laughs sometimes just got emotional, sometimes I'm upset, whatever it is, it is there in my honest form. And I think that's the USP of the show.
What were the challenges that you faced while working on Konkan Diaries?
Oh, it was a very enriching and beautiful experience. It was very physically and mentally challenging shoot, because, you know, we were shooting for 20 to 35 days, and in 25 days, we were constantly traveling, we were on the road. It was pretty hot because we were in the summer right? Now summer started and 37 degrees and still nice and cool and Konkan is very beautiful, but hectic in the sense lot of traveling. It's a 10-episode season, and in each episode, there are three to 30 experiences. We have recorded and experienced and shot so there's a lot of costume changes and physical activities, a lot of emotional involvement in those people who I am talking to. It was an all-around experience.
Did you do any research while unearthing the stories about the Maharashtrian coastal region? Did you have any say in the episodes’ research?
Oh, yes. But the team itself had done such amazing research, that it was more enlightening to me. The thing is I had gone to Konkan many years back because I was doing a Marathi play with Mahesh Manjrekar called All the Best. At that time Mahesh Manrekar was the producer and we had a Konkan ka tour and Konkan tour and all these experiences I didn’t get that time it was a short tour a week but this time I got to see Konkan from the inside out. And you know there’s a difference between visiting a place and living in a place. I lived in Konkan this time and believe me, there is so much unexplored about Konkan and I would still say in spite of doing 30 different experiences I would say there is so much more to explore in Konkan, the coastline, the beaches, the water sports, the history, the beautiful fortresses, the architecture, the mix of different cultures because it has Portuguese, British and Maratha influence on the culture and history or their architecture, the lifestyle everything is influenced by that. There is so much in Konkan. It is so full of life and rich in and culture and art forms. There are so many local art forms that I'm telling you. Through Konkan Diaries, I got to live in Konkan and it was a lifetime experience for me. I would want to go there again and relive it all over again.
The Konkan region is well-known for its seafood delicacies. Will we get to see you try out your cooking skills on the show or will it purely be on the savoring side?
Well, believe me I'm a Pescetarian (a person who eats fish) mere ghar pe maachi banti hai bas but the fish the fresh fish we got in the coastal region was heavenly. It was not about just the food but really the the experience of having that food there in Konkan and different things like you know, like ghar ka khaana lekin jab aap maa ke haath ka khate ho uska mazaa alag rehta hai. It’s like that. When we were shooting there we had gone fishing on a deep sea fishing trawler and I got to spread the big net with those fishermen over there and we fished for an hour and we got really big fishes like Halwa and Surmai so when we came back, all the way back to the beach our boat got stuck in the sand because of low tide. We were around five meters away from the beach but were stuck in the sand. We couldn’t move until the tide came up so we had to wait for an hour and it was lunchtime and we were really hungry. So the fishermen in the boat they made Halwa that they had caught, they made the local curry and give us nice steamed rice with it because they had their foodstuff which they carry with them. And we had that fresh food on the boat and it was delicious, unbelievably delicious. It was then I had amazing dish Shirwale, which I had never tasted is like Idi Upam but very Konkan version of it. It's like a freshly made handmade rice noodles. Nice hot noodles that you have with jaggery infused coconut milk, it is so delicious that it is difficult to describe it to you.
In the promo we get to see you indulging in several adventure sports. Was there anything that you had to motivate yourself and overcome your fear before you tried it?
I'm a very adventurous person. I am a very daring person so I will jump into something without thinking much but there was this one sport which was insane. It is truly an adventure sport and I had no idea it is there in Konkan. It is basically flyboarding, which I did for the first time. So what are flyboarding, it is basically a skateboard with two water jets attached to it below and you fly into the air. So from the force of the waterjets, you rise up in the air. And I was flying in the air. But it is very difficult, you need a lot of balance and practice for it. Pehle do teen bar jab main kar raha tha main baar baar paani main gir raha tha. Ek baar toh main itna upar gaya hawa main and I lost balance and I fell backwards on my back and I was numb for a second. There is fun also as you are falling on water but it was pretty big height and I was lying there for a second when the boat following me because the water jet gets the water behind me and because I fell I lost my balance and was completely dazed in the water. And the boat literally ran over me. The guys in the other boat were filming me with the cameras and they panicked because I disappeared from the frame luckily I am a swimmer so I balanced myself and I came from under the boat because I was worried about the fan behind but we had a safety team with us. Even the motorboat guy they had their good safety team with them. And the guy in the motor boat jumped in with me and he pulled me out we managed to save the day, but it was scary, my shoulder was pretty sore but I again went in and did another two attempts and finally I got it. I rose above the water like Ironman and I was flying it was adrenaline rush, it is truly one of the best water sports, extremely safe they have a team, even though I was hit by the boat they jumped in and saved me.
We saw you in Ranveer Singh starrer ’83 doing a fabulous job. Do you have any other Bollywood project at hand? Care to tell us, please.
Oh I have, thanks to ‘83 and City of Dreams I've got a lot of beautiful offers with the grace of God and in Bollywood. I'm doing some amazing work I just did a web series with Taapsee Pannu, which Anubhav Sinha has produced and Sudhir Mishra has directed its and an anthology series and I'm doing another web series with Sudhir Mishra. it is with Saqib Saleem, Ranveer Shorey, Sayeed Damankar and Kishore Kadam. Rajesh Telenkar is there it is a beautiful team. I'm working with them. And that also will be announced soon. Some really great projects in the pipeline.
'Paani' my upcoming film as an actor, and also my Directorial Debut — Wins the 66th National Film Award for the 'Best Feature Film on Environment Conservation/Preservation' #66NationalFilmAwards #PAANI #MarathiFilm #Releasing2020 @priyankachopra@PurplePebblePic pic.twitter.com/iawMM4X8TO
— Adinath Kothare (@adinathkothare) December 23, 2019
After winning the National Award for your directorial Paani, what else can we expect from your stable? Any other feature film you’re currently working on?
Well, yes. Thanks to Paani, the National Award then ‘83,then City of Dreams. Acting has been in the forefront right now acting ki dukhan aachi chal rahi hai by the grace of God. And I'm getting really great offers and I'm really getting to work with such amazing filmmakers, directors, and actors many more many such great people I'm working with collaborating with and so yes, directorial work is in the pipeline and working on finding good scripts but right now I'm so occupied, with acting. I think I'm also you know, when you're acting you get to learn with these directors also their style of filmmaking, their way of storytelling the way they do their work. So the stories and institutions themselves are going to be trying to really enjoy.
Now, that a lot of Bollywood A-listers as well as southern superstars are co-starring together, do you think Marathi cinema can also chip in? What are your views?
Yes, I think Marathi cinema is just around the corner. It is going to is going to be a great turn of events for modern cinema and Marathi talent because the tide is rising for Marathi Cinema and Marathi content pricing for Marathi talent and content. I think very soon you will hear some great announcements from me also.
Any recent role in a film or a web series that you wish had come your way or impacted you in some form?
God, I am getting good offers so I'm happy and content with the kind of offers I'm getting, the work I'm getting. But the actor is always hungry for more. So yes, I am always hungry to try out different characters. In fact, I have been doing different characters in different web series and in fact, there is one I cannot reveal the name, the scenes I'm extremely pleased with. I can’t reveal much but I'm playing a Delhi rapper in one web series that I've done. And that is something totally out of the box and totally unexpected.
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