Sharman likes to give people some sunshine

'The OTT platform has been taken over by dark dramas and thrillers.'
'So Baarish 2 is a enjoyable breeze.'

The lockdown has been hard on everyone, but Sharman Joshi isn't complaining.

The actor, who is seen in ALTBalalji's Baarish 2, opposite Asha Negi, tells Rediff.com Contributor Rajul Hegde, "The Web space has come as a great boon where one can consume content at their convenience, but cinema is incomparable."

How has the lockdown been for you?

I know a lot of people have been saying it's a tough time, but for me, it's quality time with my wife, children and in-laws who live close by.

It wasn't difficult to keep my children busy as they had unlimited time on the IPad.

We have converted the dining table into a table tennis table.

Plus, we play a lot of board games like Ludo, Snakes and Ladders and, of course, online games too.

Personally, the lockdown has been very good for me.

Do you miss anything amid the COVID-19 restrictions?

I like to keep life simple.

I want to stick to the kind of lifestyle where you are in bed early and wake up early.

Life in metropolitan cities is overbearing. With the amount of time we spend on commuting, I have been seriously considering having a second home away from Mumbai except during work.

Paradoxically, I miss just the opposite of what I said, the chaos of Mumbai city, the traffic, meeting friends, going to the pub, parks, restaurants... all of that has its own charm.

What shows or movies are you watching these days?

I have watched the English series Broadchurch and really liked it.

I have watched 25 to 30 films and my go to movies has been the Netflix platform. The most convenient category I found was to look for classics, blockbusters and award-winning movies.

Last month, Netflix India put out a caption for the meme which shows multiple images of Money Heist's Nairobi crying, and the final image transitions into you. Did you see that?

Yeah, I thought it was funny.

I kept wondering what it was all about as I had no idea about the show and the character.

Then I checked with someone and watched it because there was so much hype around it and the meme.

Money Heist is a fine show and I put up a couple of posts on Netflix India and tagged the actress too.

You made your digital debut last year with Baarish. Now, the second season has started airing.

Baarish is a story of a couple's dilemma, struggle and life.

A lot of work was done around this subject in films and shows, but now they have become outdated.

The OTT platform has been taken over by dark dramas and thrillers.

So this is a enjoyable breeze in the form of a light romantic drama where you address the challenges any couple would face in today's times.

What was it like to shoot with Jeetendra?

Jeetendra sir is a legend and he chose to return to acting with this show.

I was thrilled and looking forward to working with him and having the honour of sharing the screen space with him.

When I met him on the set, it was such a joyable experience.

He had wonderful anecdotes to tell us about his personal and professional life.

He kept the atmosphere always happy and he hardly ever left the sets. Even when he was not shooting, he enjoyed spending time on the sets.

Nandita (Mehra, director) used to panic and get concerned about whether he was fine or if he was being taken care of. But he was an absolute gentleman and it was a wonderful experience working with him.

There is a lot of discussion about films releasing on OTT due to the lockdown. What are your thoughts on this?

TV, films and digital are different platforms for entertainment.

The kind of content they offer is different from each other.

Television across the world caters a certain kind of content and audiences.

OTT caters to all kinds of audiences; it doesn't have be mass driven like how when multiplexes came, there were niche audiences.

The desire of people under lockdown, including me, is to step outside, go for dinner, meet some friends or watch a movie.

I think each medium has its own advantage.

The kind of cinematic experience we are used to will only be satisfied through films.

Cinema will be cinema because it is a wholesome experience, a big screen spectacle.

Yes, the Web space has come as a great boon where one can consume content at their convenience, but cinema is incomparable.

Neither will replace the other; they will stay together.

3 idiots was the most watched film amid the coronavirus lockdown in the US. It completed 10 years last December.

It's incredible how cinema can touch lives across the world irrespective of different cultures and languages.

It's amazing that it's still winning hearts and receiving so much love.

I remember that my name appears in the credits for the few lines that I had recited in the song Give Me Some Sunshine. But people mistakenly think that I have sung the song.

There are so many occasions when people requested me to sing that song and have been majorly disappointed because I am a very bad singer (laughs).