Theater grooms an artist to do better comedy - Prashant Damle

Prashant Damle’s contributions towards Marathi theatre and films can leave a person spell bound. While he was seen in stage plays and films such as Brahmachari, Moruchi Mavshi, Char Divas Premache, Eka Lagnachi Gosht, Gela Madhav Kunikade, one can say that the enchanting actor is certainly not one of the run of the mill actors. While he announced about quitting films in 2001 to focus on television, he is now back on small screen after a long time doing a Hindi show with SAB TV’s Chandrakant Chiplunkar Seedi Bambawala (Namanraj Productions). Let us hear more about his character in the serial. Said Prashant, “I play the protagonist Chandrakant Chiplunkar. For the first time on television, a show will highlight the problems of a fire fighter in a light-hearted way. It is true that I had decided to never do television. I have done theatre for 32 years but have never essayed a fire fighter and that is the primary reason I chose to do this show. I am doing a Hindi television show after a span of 12 to 15 years and I am thoroughly excited.” While many actors often seem worried about being slotted in particular genres, Prashant Damle who has brought a smile on people’s faces stands by the thought that comedy is his forte. “Look, comedy has a lot of sub-genres. There is flat comedy, musical comedy, action comedy and many more. Making people laugh is my priority and it should be clean, something where a family can share laughs.” Chandrakant Chiplunkar Seedi Bambawala will feature a set of actors who belong to the theater background. Since the endowed actor has completed more than 10,700 stage performances, we asked Prashant if he feels whether theatre artists can perform better comedy than the television actors. Prashant averred, “Comedy is something not meant for all actors as it is not an actor’s game but a re-actor’s. Re-actions to comedy require minute attention to comic timing and theatre grooms an artist well for this.” Prashant, welcome back to television as Chandrakant Chiplunkar!!!