‘Our series is a beautiful balance between reality and fiction'

‘Our series is a beautiful balance between reality and fiction'

Upendra Limaye appears as a Kathak dancer in Sony Entertainment’s newest serial — Tara from Satara, which chronicles the journey of a dancer’s passion for her art. Upendra, who made his Hindi television debut with the series, says whether it’s television or films, it’s all about story-telling. “The content has to be strong. I haven’t done any project where I have just liked the character. I found the content of this series very strong and interesting. If the content is good, your character will turn out good too,” says the actor who is playing the role of Sachin Mane, a Kathak teacher.  

Upendra believes that television has its own strength and once you find the right project, it can work wonders for those involved with it. “I was waiting for the right project and Tara from Satara was that project for me because it’s different kind of content. Generally, TV shows are more about family dramas but our series is a beautiful balance between reality and fiction,” he adds. 

Were there any apprehensions while playing the role of a Kathak dancer? The actor, who has worked in both Hindi and Marathi films, says that he has been associated with experimental theatre all his life. “The films that I have done are also mostly offbeat. I strongly believe that every actor has his/her comfort zone. But if they keep working in and around that zone, they will end up looking the same in every project. If we move away from that comfort zone, something different will emerge out of it,” he says, adding, “I thought, my character in Tara from Satara gave me that opportunity, because I have mostly played negative roles or cops. I had never played a dance teacher.”

Of course getting under the skin of a Kathak dancer wasn’t an easy task for the actor. He says he had told the production house that he needed a trained dancer on the set. “Ashish Patil, a well-known choreographer and Kathak dancer and his team is always there on the set to help me. They corrected me on my body language, poses, riyaaz etc.” 

Since he had done his graduation from Centre of Performing Arts in Dramatics from Pune University, his entire batch was from classical music and dance background. “I also got feedback from them because I wanted the character to look authentic. Because Pune is the cultural capital of country, I have watched some of the masters like Manisha Sathe, Pt Birju Maharaj, Pandita late Rohini Bhate perform live,” says Upendra who is known for his roles in films as Chandni Bar, Page 3, Traffic Signal and Sarkar Raj. 

The actor says dance is an integral part of the serial but the story is mostly about the relationship between a father and daughter. 

When it comes to off-beat themes, it’s still difficult to successfully handle them in theatre, films or TV. But the 49-year-old actor, who has bagged the National Award as Best Actor for his performance in the Marathi film Jogwa, says that as an actor he prefers doing a socio-political project rather than a commercial film. “Many of my friends tell me, the films you do get awards but have limited release. I agree that we have restricted budget and audience but the satisfaction is a lot more in such projects,” says the actor. 

The actor has recently finished shooting for Anurag Kashyap’s next but chooses not to talk about it. 

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