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Sanjeev Sharma

A fulfilled
A civil engineer by profession, Sanjeev Sharma alias Satyam Pulaspya - that’s his screen name - was always fascinated by acting. Obviously his dream was to be an actor. But circumstances forced him to put his dream on hold and pursue a degree in engineering. "I come from a lower middle class family and being the eldest son in the family I had a lot of responsibilities on my shoulders," he explains.

But once he was through with his responsibilities, Sharma resurrected his past dream and made the pilot of Pratikaar two years ago. The serial has finally made it to the airwaves of Sahara TV and is telecast on Wednesdays at 9.30 pm.

But Pratikaar was not initially meant for the satellite channels. Sharma says it was made for Doordarshan and he approached Sahara to market it. But they bought the programme for their own channel. Starring Govind Namdeo, Yatin Karyekar, Amit Behl, Anant Jog, Mandira Bedi, Virendra Singh, Reeta Bhaduri and Sanjeev Sharma himself in a very important role, Pratikaar which means rebellion, is all about the conflict between two generations representing different values and principles.

Starting with the present which is interspersed by the happenings in the past via flashbacks, it tells the story of two friends who help one another in their single-minded pursuit for power and material gains. They resort to corrupt practices but their nefarious activities and nexus with the underworld is exposed by two upright and principled police officers.

Sharma says Pratikaar is not a simple and dry cop story. "It has drama, action, romance, conflict, tragedy and repentance, making it a wholesome family entertainment," he informs. "Of course the focus is on the police force. But we are portraying the police in positive shades and show their limitation and how and why they make mistakes. We have weaved the story in such a way that it entertains viewers."

The story starts with two friends, Lala and Malik, played by Govind Namdeo and Yatin Karyekar respectively, coming from a village to city to make it big in life. While Lala who is street-smart but illiterate starts working for a politician, Malik, though educated, finds it difficult to get a decent job. And it is Lala who helps Malik in getting a job in police force.

Lala slowly works his way up the political ladder and becomes a powerful politician and a power broker with underworld links.
He is helped by Malik in his ventures. And in return, Lala helps Malik become a police commissioner. The story takes a dramatic turn when Malik’s son Aditya, an IPS officer played by Amit Behl, and his close buddy and also an IPS officer Prashant, portrayed by Sanjeev Sharma, expose Lala and Malik and shatter their clean and gentlemen image. In the end both realise their mistakes and repent for their misdeeds.

Try to tell Sharma that the story sounds more like the plot of a Bollywood potbolier and he says that the treatment is different and the serial has several sub-plots. As for casting himself in a prominent role, given the fact that it is his first experience at emoting before the camera, he says among all the characters in the serial he found himself suitable for the role of Prashant.

He confesses that initially he had camera fear and it was difficult for him to emote but now he is doing the job quite comfortably. Amit Behl who plays the upright police officer and exposes his father’s links with politicians and the underworld finds his role in Pratikaar quite good as it is a central character. "Also the graph of the character is quite interesting with a wide range of emotions," he says. "What’s also interesting about the character is his one-to-one interaction with his father, fiancee and friend."

Adds director Brahmanand, "Though it is a star-studded serial, we are not merely banking on the actors’ popularity. Every character has a proper place in the story which is pacy and dramatic."

Though Sanjeev Sharma is acting in the serial as well as handling the entire production besides supervising the creative aspect, he says Pratikaar is not his own production. It is produced by his mother Brij Bala Sharma.

A.L. Chougule