Acting is my life, says Murli Sharma

Hyderabad: Murli Sharma may have appeared in over 134 feature films in his career, but the actor still has the best time when he’s on the sets of a film. He just enjoys the process of becoming another character too much. “Acting is my life… I would give away anything to continue doing this for […]

Hyderabad: Murli Sharma may have appeared in over 134 feature films in his career, but the actor still has the best time when he’s on the sets of a film. He just enjoys the process of becoming another character too much. “Acting is my life… I would give away anything to continue doing this for the rest of my life. Whatever stress I might face, it just vanishes when I am in front of the camera,” shares Murli.

Murli amassed a huge fan base of his own after nailing the role of Valmiki in Allu Arjun’s superhit film ‘Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo’. After acting in the Telugu, Hindi, Tamil, Marathi, and Malayalam film industries, the actor is now gearing up for his Kannada debut with ‘Kabzaa’.

Directed by R Chandru, the multilingual film has Upendra, Sudeep, and Shriya Saran as the leads. “I have been watching Shriya and Upendra on-screen for so long now; it’s been nice working together. I am yet to do a scene with them, but the sets of ‘Kabzaa’ are beautiful. I’ve shot for 8-10 days for the film in Bengaluru and it was pure joy. I cannot wait to get back,” shared Murli.

Speaking about the director, he added, “R Chandru is so focussed and always smiling. He wrote a fantastic script and when he narrated it to me, I loved it. It has a lot of twists and turns and drama. I am playing the role of Shriya’s father and we belong to a royal family. I cannot spill more beans now.”
Murli is simultaneously shooting for ‘Godfather’, which is a remake of the Malayalam film ‘Lucifer’. Working with Megastar Chiranjeevi for the Telugu film has been a dream come true for Murli as he “loves Chiru immensely”. The renowned actor is also gearing up for the release of ‘F3’ from director Anil Ravipudi’s ‘F2’ franchise and starring Venkatesh, Varun Tej, Tamannaah, and Mehreen.

After 30-odd years, Murli is finally happy with the kind of roles he has been getting. “It has taken me a little longer,” he admits. “Earlier, people would ridicule and mock me, and jeer at me. When my father was alive, he would get lectures on my career choice. Those are the people who are now excited to click selfies with me. So, my journey has been good despite some ups and downs. My father had passed away about two years ago – he was very proud of me. He would preserve my newspaper clippings and tell everyone that his son achieved everything by himself. Of course, that’s not true because I always had my parents’ blessings. Till my parents were alive, there’s not a day I would step out of the house without touching their feet and getting their blessings,” added Murli.
When Murli is not busy shooting, he loves whipping up some delicacies in the kitchen with his wife Ashwini Kalsekar. They also enjoy light reading and listening to music together. “We now have two puppies at home and it’s a happy little family,” shares Murli.

As a piece of advice to newbie actors, Murli says that the secret to success is to “never stop trying”.