Acting on the back seat now: Prasad Oak
TI never wanted to be an actor, I always wanted to be a director. PRASAD OAK, Actor-director
hough his last Marathi film, Dharmaveer, managed to rake in the moolah at the box office, actor Prasad Oak has decided to focus more on directing projects now. “Ab direction ko forefront pe and acting ko back seat pe [rakhna hai],” he declares.
Oak continues, “I never wanted to be an actor, I always wanted to be a director. And that dream of direction has lagged. I came to Mumbai in 1996 and directed my first film in 2009 (Hay Kay Nay Kay). My next [directorial] Kaccha Limbu was in 2017. Now, I want to direct more films,” the actordirector states.
He has done almost 92 films as an actor and admits that he enjoyed his stint as an actor. “I have always enjoyed acting. I did it with full honesty,” the Hirkani (2019) actor admits. However, he also regrets not taking the brave step of directing earlier. “I will definitely tell my younger self: You should have started direction earlier. It was my dream to make my directorial debut with Chandramukhi,” he says. Oak finally directed the movie, which was based on author Vishwas Patil’s eponymous novel this year.
“It took 15 years for Vishwas Patil to give me the rights to remake his novel. He knew me as an actor, but he wasn’t sure of my directing abilities. He was skeptical. After Hirkani
(he also directed the film), he gave me the rights in December 2019. Chandramukhi was my 18-year-long passion and my biggest ‘dream come true’ outing,” he signs off.