Sharad Kelkar
lent his signature deep and husky voice to
Prabhas
‘ character in Baahubali: The Beginning and Baahubali 2: The Conclusion. Nine years after the films hit the big screen,
Rajamouli
’s
Baahubali
is all set to make a comeback, this time as an animated series
Baahubali: Crown of Blood
. In the web-show, Sharad has voiced the prime character of
Amarendra Baahubali
again.
In his interview with The Indian Express, Sharad revealed that while Baahubali has been his claim to fame, he has also been typecasted. Discussing how Baahubali changed his life, mostly for the good, he says, “Things come with good and bad, both. With Baahubali, obviously, the praise was bigger. The identity was bigger. After Baahubali a lot of filmmakers had started approaching me because of my voice.”
Sharad
says while the offers were tempting, he wanted to be a wholesome actor. He says, “I dub well but that doesn’t mean that I’ll do a certain type of role that requires a good voice. I am an actor first, I can perform and when it comes to my voice I can take it to any dimension. They were not approaching me as an actor, so I started saying no to them. Because then it is a very easy cast and I don’t believe in that. I want to try new roles, do new work.”
“Fortunately, in the last two years a lot of people have shown trust in me. You’ll see a different Sharad Kelkar in Srikanth, there is one more film coming in June where too it is a different kind of role. I try and do different kinds of roles so that I am stuck being typecast. I am waiting for the good times, the best to come,” he added.
Rajkummar Rao and Zaheer Khan participate in a fun cricket match
Sharad also shared how his life changed after the
SS Rajamouli
film, adding that people from small towns and villages now recognise him, even if he is wearing a mask, or he is in disguise, people identify him by his voice.
“All the credit goes to SS Rajamouli sir who made me the voice of Baahubali. He chose me for that and gave me the liberty to dub as I perceived the character. During the first part, he used to come in the evening and check all the dubs. While dubbing for the second part he didn’t come, he trusted us with it completely, he’d say, ‘guys, do your job and get out!” he shared.
Opening up about how different it is to lend voice for a character in the film versus an animation character, Sharad said that this time there was no face, no visuals, as it was just dubbing first and then the animation.
Bahubali: Crown of Blood, directed by Jeevan J Kang and Naveen John and created by Rajamouli and Sharad Devarajan. The animation show will stream from May 17.
