Sharad Kelkar: My friends wanted to slap me after seeing me in Operation Romeo

Operation Romeo saw Sharad Kelkar in one of his most villainous roles yet. In the film, Kelkar essays the role of a man who pretends to be a police officer and, after getting a ride from a young couple, starts to harass them. The actor recently opened up about the difficult time he went through while filming for the role, and the strong responses his character elicited from people.

In conversation with Hindustan Times, Kelkar recalled how he had approached the film’s producer Neeraj Pandey just a few days after shooting. The actor had told Pandey that the role was too difficult to do, and that he was not able to do it. Kelkar had even told the director that the character was too difficult and challenging for him to emulate.

He recounted how he told the makers that he had no idea what he was doing, and was afraid that people would come to hit him with chappals after seeing him in the film. Pandey had allayed his fears by saying that the actor’s feelings meant that the film was indeed working the way they hoped.

After the film’s release, a lot of Kelkar’s friends had called up the actor, being impressed and happy with his performance. “Despite knowing who I am, they said ‘man kar raha tha ek chatta maru tujhe’”, he recalled.

Kelkar said that he was not surprised by the film’s success. Although he had been under quite a lot of stress during the 20-30 days of shoot due to the nature of the character he played, he felt that in the end it had all paid off.

Operation Romeo is the Hindi remake of the Malayalam film Ishq. In addition to Kelkar, the Hindi film also starred Sidhant Gupta, Vedika Pinto, Bhumika Chawla and Kishor Kadam in pivotal roles.

Operation Romeo, directed by Shashant Shah, is available for streaming on Netflix.