Brilliant actor Sharad Kelkar is currently busy raking praises for his performance in the recently released Marathi film 'Har Har Mahadev'. In this historical drama, Sharad played the role of Baji Prabhu Deshpande, a loyal commander of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, who gave his life fighting for his king. Although the film has turned out to be a critical and commercial success, Sharad says that he was skeptical before taking up the role as he has already become synonymous with the role of Chhatrapati Shivaji after playing him in Om Raut's 'Tanhaji'.

Sharing how he was concerned about getting typecasted, Sharad said, "We’ve seen in our industry how some great actors have played some iconic roles and then they’ve been stuck in the same role forever. As an actor, I don’t think it is good to be stuck in a certain image or a type of character because then you can’t do justice to other characters you’re playing. When I played Shivaji in Tanhaji, I was first worried if people would accept me in that role, if they’d be happy or not, but fortunately I was accepted by the audience. However, after that, many people wanted to see a similar kind of role. I was a little skeptical about it because then the growth of an actor remains in the backyard. So, the idea was to do something different.”

Sharing how he was approached for the part, the actor said, "Abhijeet Deshpande came and offered me Baji Prabhu Deshpande. Reading his script and realising the idea behind the film, I was impressed with his vision and courage to approach an actor who is hugely known for playing Shivaji Maharaj on screen, and present him as Baji Prabhu Deshpande.