Sharman Joshi

r Arvind Joshi is a famous Gujarati stage actor. His sister Manasi is married to actor Rohit Roy. His aunt Sarita Joshi and his cousin Ketki Joshi are both popular stage and film actors in Guajarati. Thus the entire family ambiance influenced young Sharman towards acting. As a child when his father used to go for play, young Sharman would accompany him and this developed his passion for acting. During his school and college days he mastered the craft of acting and began his career in theatre after completing his graduation.

Sharman Joshi made a mark with his first play ‘All the Best’ After completing his graduation Sharman got a golden opportunity to do a Gujarati play ‘All the Best’. The play was a runaway hit and Sharman did umpteen numbers of shows so much that he was exhausted. Sharman credits the well written script behind the success of the play. Secondly he acclaims his father, who had a great influence upon him. As a child Sharman went along with him to theatre and observe him at rehearsals. He travelled with his father across Gujarat to major cities like Jamnagar, Baroda, Ahmadabad to Rajkot and Bhavnagar. At that time theater was at its peak in Gujarat and people thronged in large number. When his father notice Sharman’s inclination in drama he started training him and gave him important suggestions on voice modulation, expressions and understanding the character. All this helped Sharman display is histrionics in his play All the Best, in which he played the complex character of a deaf man with panache! He did many shows at the prestigious Thakorebhai Desai Hall at Law Garden at Ahmadabad and Ellisbridge Gymkhana Club for many months and booked bungalows for the entire crew. He did the show for 3 years and did over 550 shows. He worked for 8 years in Gujarati theatre before joining films. Sharman Joshi was selected by ABCL Talent Hunt Despite Sharman Joshi’s father and aunt being a part of Gujarati film industry yet his father was of the opinion that one must find work on his ability rather than influence. Hence Sharman never took the help of his relative to seek entry in Bollywood. Instead he wandered film producer’s office on his own and even participated in Amitabh Bachchan’s Talent Hunt Contest and was selected among the top 10 actors from a lakh of aspirants from India. In the first ABCL film Tere Mere Sapne (1996) ABCL introduced Chandrachur Singh and Arshad Warsi. But the film was a big flop hence the actors, including Sharman Joshi, who were supposed to be launched in future films could not get a chance. Sharman Joshi credits Shabana Azmi for making him understand cinema acting Sharman Joshi made his debut in Bollywood with a small role in Shabana Azmi’s film Godmother (1999). When Sharman gave his first shot for the film he was not able to deliver the shot as per director’s demand. His co-star the legendary actress Shabana Azmi, understood the dilemma of Sharman. Being a theatre actor he was being loud (Usually on stage to reach the last bench audience theatre actors are generally loud) but Shabana explained him the difference between theatre performance and cinema. Sharman understood and never had to give a re-take again in future. Sharman Joshi got trapped into comedy After doing insignificant roles in films like Godmother and Lajja, Sharman Joshi was noticed by filmmaker N.Chandra, who made the big hit films like Tezaab and Ankush. Though Chandra was known for making action thriller but for a chance he decided to make a shoe string budget comedy film with newcomers Sharman Joshi and Sahil Khan. The film was Style (2001). It was a huge it and it gave birth to its sequel Xcuse Me (2003). After these two comedies Sharman Joshi was stereotyped in comedies and did many films like Shaadi No. 1 (2005), and Golmaal (2006) in which he was also nominated for Filmfare Award for Best Performance in a Comic Role. However Sharman Joshi got tired of doing repeated comedy and even walked out from the super hit Golmaal franchise. Sharman Joshi stunned critics with bold and erotic films Fed up with comedies Sharman Joshi switched gears and did some serious films like Rang De Basanti (2006) and Life in a Metro (2007). Being a theatre actor he decided to explore his acting histrionics and attempted bold and erotic thriller Raqeeb (2007) but the film failed. However he got another opportunity with Hate Story 3 and it worked. In this film he had a hot love making scene with Zareen Khan effortlessly. Sharman said that while doing the scene he was relaxed because he is a theatre actor and can perform any role comfortably. His other films were a mix of variety of roles that included Allah Ke Banday, Ferrari Ki Sawaari, War Chhod Na Yaar, Gang of Ghosts, Super Nani, 1920 London