Shreyas Talpade on 15 years of Om Shanti Om: I had a yes in mind even before hearing the story

Shreyas Talpade was three films old in Bollywood when Om Shanti Om came his way. While his critically-acclaimed debut Iqbal saw him play an aurally challenged cricketer, Apna Sapna Money Money was a mad comedy caper.

And when choreographer-director Farah Khan offered him a film with Shah Rukh Khan, he just couldn’t refuse, and had a yes even before he heard the story. “I was fairly new in Hindi films, and here was my opportunity to work with Farah, Shah Rukh and Deepika (Padukone) who was going to make her debut. The experience was wonderful to say the least. Till date SRK is one of the best co-stars I have worked with. Obviously he’s a superstar for a reason,” he says.

The 46-year-old played the role of Pappu Master, a junior artiste in Hindi films in the 70s and best friend of Om Prakash Makhija, who is in the same profession. He is killed in a fire saving his love, played by Padukone, and is reborn as a superstar’s son. Talpade had to age for the first time in his career.

He says that he was game from day one, and wasn’t scared that playing an aged man will impact his future roles. “When I was narrated the film, I thought this is something new for me. I have to play Shah’s confidante and fast forward 20 years as the same character. Being a theatre actor, you look for certain challenges. Till date I have never given a thought to ‘age karna padhega’ It never bothered me either when I was doing television. As long as my gut feeling said yes, I went ahead and did it,” he quips.

Add what made it special was Khan praising Talpade on the second day of shoot itself. Since both of them came from a theatre background, they could bond instantly. And got scolded by Farah too! The actor recalls with a laugh, “Shah Rukh and me were sitting on the second day, and he was having his mug of coffee, waiting for our shot. He said ‘Shreyas, after a long time I had a great time working with someone. When I went back home last night, I was speaking to Gauri (Khan, SRK’s wife) and said mujhe maza aaya kaam karke iss ladke ke saath. We improvised so much throughout the day, I remember Farah coming to us and saying ‘improvisation bauhaut ho gaya, ab maine jo likha hai voh karo’ It was a compliment for me that he enjoyed working with me.”

And once you star in a film as big a hit as OSO, your role gets popular and you tend to get the same kind of roles again and again. That happened with Talpade too. “I stayed away from those roles, those were not what I wanted to do then at least. I did films like Housefull 2 after that, but it was a multi hero setup. Golmaal Returns I did because Rohit Shetty was clear that everyone is a hero in the Golmaal series,” he quips.