‘MOVIES ARE MY LIFE’
Priyank Sharma, son of actress Padmini Kolhapure, talks about his dream of venturing into films and their music company Dhamaka Records
My wife Shaza Morani and I have been together for the last 16 years. If I waited for the 17th year I may have lost her. Shaza and I studied together and went to New York together, boarded together. So, we’d been together for so long.
I SHARE A
GREAT RAPPORT WITH MUM AND I AM A COMPLETE MAMA’S BOY. I AM ALSO HER ONLY CHILD. SHE’S MY BEST FRIEND AND CONFIDANT,
AND I SHARE EVERYTHING WITH HER — PERSONAL LIFE AND WORK LIFE
Born to singer and yesteryear actress Padmini Kolhapure (who also owns Dhamaaka Records) and producer Pradeep Sharma, Priyank Sharma very honestly says he does not have the music/singing talent his mum and his classical singer maternal grandfather, Pandharinath Kolhapure, were born with.
While Priyank wishes to carry the music/singing legacy of the family, he currently focuses on producing and acting.
Excerpts:
Q
You belong to a family with a movie background, so when did you notice the world of glamour?
The atmosphere at home was very simple and work was never brought home, so it took me time to understand what my parents did for a living. I was kept away from all parties and the film world talk. They wanted me to first focus on my studies.
Q
With your dad being a producer, you would like to tread on his footsteps?
Honestly, I’ve never been clear about what I want to do — whether I only want to act or even produce. But I know that movies are my life. I’ve grown up around it and love doing movies and being connected with it in any sphere and every field of this profession.
Q
You got married rather early in life, quite like your mom!
My wife Shaza Morani and I have been together for the last 16 years. If I waited for the 17th year I may have lost her. [Laughs]
I know it feels old school being with someone for so long, but Shaza and I studied together and went to New York together, boarded together. So, we’d been together for so long and then COVID happened! Our folks decided for us to get married and I agreed. We got married soon after. Now we also work together and connect well.
Q
Has your equation with your mum changed now that you are married?
I share a great rapport with mum and I am a complete mama’s boy; then again, I am also her only child. She’s my best friend and confidant, and I share everything with her — whether it is about my personal life or work life.
Q
I’d love to work with Mum and that’s a dream I have been cherishing for a long time now. So hopefully soon, we’ll find some good characters that we both can play.
Q
What is music to you? And how was Dhamaka Records conceptualised?
I always wanted to take my family
Will we see you and your mother together on celluloid?
music legacy ahead, and for the longest time I’ve wondered how to do that because I am not a singer. Fortunately, everyone in the family besides me, starting from my great maternal grandfather, maternal grandfather, sister, brother, their cousins, etc. can sing, so this was always on the back burner.
Moreover, I lived my entire life with my grandfather and grandmother, living in the same house. Seeing them practicing and watching him teach many students remained with me even after he passed away. Thereafter, I debuted as an actor with the 202-romcom Sab Kushal Mangal although soon after its release the pandemic hit. We were all trying to find ways to do something through that unfortunate situation and that’s when Dhamaka Records was conceptualised.
Q
How did come about?
Mum and all of us were pondering upon an apt title, and she said, “Dhamaka hona chahiye” [It should be explosive], to which we all jumped and suggested “Dhamaka Records”. Dhamaka Records has a whole perspective and motivates you to do something and its first track had all big wigs, from Amitabh Bachchan to Lata Mangeshkar, my mum and all other family members singing.
the name