Why Sachin Khedekar played a negative role in 'Fakta Ladh Mhana'

He’s played Netaji Subhashchandra Bose, he’s played a frustrated Marathi Manoos who finds a voice to fight back with, he’s played a gangster, a father and a hurt husband.

Though Sachin Khedekar often appears in Hindi cinema, Marathi films are his home turf. And in his recent Fakta Ladh Mhana, the actor found a challenging role.

 

“It’s been four Fridays consecutively that I’ve had releases,” he says.

 

That explains the frantic tone in which the actor spoke into the phone. While he has been receiving endless number of calls for his portrayal of the heroine’s comical father in the recently released blockbuster Singham, the actor is mighty excited about Fakta Ladh Mhana, produced and written by Mahesh Manjrekar.

 

“I have done different roles in films of various genres and languages, but this one was a different role,” says the actor who was last seen in a Marathi film playing a father striving hard to fulfill his son’s wish in Taryanche Bait.

Admitting that he was keen to break away from the image, Khedekar says that he needed a director or a writer to do that for him.

 

“You need a director or a writer who trusts you,” says Khedekar. “Mahesh and I go way back and in seven to eight films I have done with him, I have done so many different roles! I was a gangster in Hathyaar, a cop in Viruddha and Shivaji Raje was another tangent altogether. So Mahesh has shown faith in me as an actor in the past,” says Khedekar.

 

Fakta Ladh Mhana has five established actors — Santosh Juvekar, Bharat Jadhav, Siddharth Jadhav, Aniket Vishwasrao and Sanjay Narvekar — fighting against a corrupt politician played by Khedekar.

 

“It was a jugalbandi of sorts because all these guys are so versatile and well-established. I thoroughly enjoyed it!” says Khedekar when asked about his experience of working on the film.

 

Steering the conversation back to Manjrekar, Khedekar says that he enjoys working with the fiery director. “His films are made because there’s always a social issue that emotionally connects with him. Look at Lalbaug Paral, look at Vaastav,” says Khedekar. To Khedekar, Manjrekar’s films aren’t just films but much more. Touching upon the issues of farmer suicides, SEZ and land grabbing, the action-packed Fakta Ladh Mhana looks to entertain and generate awareness.

 

The title of the film comes from a poem Kanaa (spine) by celebrated poet Kusumagraj (VV Shirvadkar). The poem tells a tale of a man who has lost everything, but all he’s looking for is encouragement to fight on.

 

“Modun padla sansaar tari modalaa nahee kanaa, Patheevarti haath tehvun nuste ladh mhana,” says the last line of the poem.

“Politicians, those in power often assume that common man can easily be neglected. Fakta Ladh Mhana brings together five

individuals who decide to fight back after a sort of an awakening,” says Khedekar. Considering he played a corrupt politician and ventured into unexplored territory, Khedekar wasn’t nervous at all.

“As an actor, one must surprise their audience one role at a time. One has been around for a long time and in doing roles which suit me, like those of heroine’s brother, sister etc. I try to bring something unique to them. When a role like Madhusudan Patil comes your way, you can only be excited!”

 

For Khedekar, however, getting into the skin of the character wasn’t too hard. “This wasn’t your typical villain who contorts his face and uses weird mannerisms to convey his cruelty, to play this villain I had to portray moral corruption which is in the mind. It’s as simple as saying that the system is so corrupt that it corrupts an individual as well,” says Khedekar.

 

Going by the scams coming to light each day, there must have been a lot of politicians to base his performance upon but the actor vehemently denies using any particular politician as a reference point for Madhusudan Patil.

 

For someone who looks to explore new avenues, we wonder if Khedekar will venture into other aspects of cinema like maybe direction or screenplay writing. “No not really, I am too self-obsessed for that,” he laughs.