Sharad Kelkar On His Role In Operation Romeo: My Friends Wanted To Slap Me

You know an actor has done a great job as the hero of the film when the audience cheers and hoots for them in every scene. The same goes for most characters in the movie. However, villains are different. Their prowess is gauged by how angry people become after seeing their performance, how much the audience curses them, and how much they are hated. The more hated the character, the better the actor was in the role. The best example would be Jack Gleeson and Iwan Rheon for their portrayal of Joffrey Baratheon and Ramsay Bolton respectively in Game of Thrones. A new addition to the list is Sharad Kelkar who was equally hated by the audience for his role in the Hindi thriller Operation Romeo.

In the Hindi remake of the Malayalam film Ishq, Sharad played the role of Mangesh Jhadav, a greedy and corrupt cop. In an interview with Hindustan Times, Kelkar spoke about his experiences while preparing for the role. He said that he went to Neeraj Pandey a few days into the shoot and told him about the difficulties he was having while portraying the character. He said, "I don't know what I am doing. I am feeling disgusted. Log Chappal se marenge mujhe (People will beat me with slippers)." Neeraj responded to him by saying that if he's feeling that, then it's working for the film.

Talking about the kind of response he received for his role, Sharad said, "A lot of my friends called me after watching the movie. They were quite happy with my performance. Despite knowing who I am, they said, 'Man kar raha hai ek chatta maru tujhe (I feel like slapping you)'". Kelkar admitted to being under a lot of stress during the shoot, but was glad that it paid off.

Released in April 2022, Operation Romeo made its OTT debut on Netflix in July and is now all set to make its world television premiere on &pictures on September 24.

After Operation Romeo, Sharad will next be seen in the Hinglish movie Deja vu and is rumoured to work with Prabhas again in Adipurush. However, the actor refrained from making any comments on the matter.