A star in the making

Acting is child’s play for 10-year-old Tanmay Tukaram Kharbe who has wowed the audience with his performances on stage as well as on the big screen

| APRIL 25, 2018, 06:22 PM IST
A star in the making

BHARATI PAWASKAR


It’s double dhamaka for Tanmay Tukaram Kharbe this week. While his mega Marathi play Shambhuraje will be staged in Ponda for six days from April 25 onwards, his Bollywood Hindi film Ishk Tera will also be releasing in theatres on April 27.   

Having starred alongside Rishita Bhat and Mohit Madan in the film, Tanmay is extremely excited.“I play the younger brother of the heroine Rishita ji and had to do dialogue delivery in Hindi. We had a three-day shooting at Vasco and it was fun,” says Tanmay who has recently answered his class IV exam.

A little star in his own way, Tanmay who hails from Bhomwada at Tuem, Pernem, began acting at a tender age of six. It was Tanmay’s mother Sunita, a teacher by profession who noticed the acting skills in her little son while training her student on how to deliver a lengthy dialogue in a school play. “The boy couldn’t pick up the skill and I was repeatedly teaching him. Little Tanmay was beside me. He listened to the dialogue for some time and then came to me and delivered that one-page dialogue without fumbling. It was then that I got to know about his ability to learn and remember,” she says. Tanmay’s parents then encouraged him to participate in fancy dress competitions and go on the stage, which he did easily and won prizes. There was no looking back after that. Tanmay has been honing his skills since then and taken part in many plays and films apart from participating in hundreds of fancy dress shows.  

Tanmay has so far done four plays, two out of which have been on a mega scale and four films –two Hindi and two Konkani. In fact, the youngster has also had the privilege to partner with Nana Patekar in the Bollywood movie, Tadka which is in the post-production phase now. “My scene is small and short. As I played junior Nana, we don’t share screen space in any of the shots. But it was quite fun being around with this great uncle Nana,” quips Tanmay. Language is no bar for Tanmay who has also just completed his part of the shooting in a Konkani film by Dinesh Bhosale – the name of which is yet to be decided.  

In his upcoming play Shambhuraje, Tanmay will be playing junior Shambhuraje. “I know my dialogues by heart,” he confides and goes on to give a live demonstration of this with an excellent dialogue delivery - “Aabasaaheb aapan maazhi kaalji karu naye, Swarajyachya hitasaathi mihi sobat yeyin…” (Father, don’t you worry about me, in the larger interest of ‘Swarajya’ I shall accompany you too).

Indeed, for Tanmay, remembering long dialogues isn’t too difficult. “I read the script two-three times very carefully, until I remember it by heart. My mother helps me with this. She narrates the gist of what’s being said. After I understand the meaning, it becomes easy for me to recollect my dialogue on the stage,” he explains

On the sets during the dress rehearsals, while the other actors look stressed out by the last minute rutting of their dialogues, little Tanmay – with his costumes and makeup on – seems always cool. “He knows his part well and plays it with ease,” states his father Tukaram who agrees that Marathi Mahanatya Shambhuraje is the second big break that Tanmay got in a mega play with hundreds of actors, live elephants and horses on stage. This mega play was earlier staged by Shree Bhagawati High School, Pernem on December 23, 2017. Later when the play was to be staged at the state level in Ponda, the director Jayendrarao Haldankar came to Tanmay’s school to select boys and girls for this play. Tanmay who had played junior Shambhuraje, again was elected for this important role.

Before Shambhuraje, Tanmay also had the opportunity to act in Shivputra Shambhuraje, which is also a Marathi Mahanatya (mega play) but a commercial one by actor Dr Amol Kolhe of Kolhapur. This play too was presented for six days at Ponda with horses and elephants on stage. In both these mega plays, Tanmay played child role of Shambhuraje (son of King Shivaji). His roles in Marathi plays, Mandir and Raigadala Jevha Jag Yete were much appreciated.


You can follow Tanmay’s acting exploits on his Facebook page and through his channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeISybwFqWMXQHreUS5aXmA)

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