Omkar Kulkarni: I learned classical music and have a good sense of rhythm

Actor Omkar Kulkarni who rose to fame with the series Immature was recently seen in the film Middle Class Love He played the role of a rapper in the film that also stars Prit Kamani and Manoj Pawha In a chat with middaycom Omkar spoke about his character in the film the role of Immature in his career and what lies ahead for him1 Congratulations on Middle Class Love How have the reactions to the film been like so far Thank you so much Honestly its all been super positive Definitely got some good feedback some from industry veterans as well We made the film with lots of love and all our heart Ratna Sinha maam was a pillar for all of us throughout the process Her process was a collaborative one we used to jam before the shoot and till the very end we were asking ourselves how do we do what were doing better Maam gave us that artistic freedom and that was quite liberatingAlso ReadAnubhav Sinha Promoting people with limited talent is unfair2 Can you tell something about your characterOshir Pannu was the underdog rapper from Mussoorie He is shy and doesnt get a lot of appreciation for his artexpression from his father who runs a small mithai shoprestaurant in the town Hes a talented rapper and with the help of the protagonist comes out of his shell and goes on to begin to materialise his dreams As Yudis Prit Kamani best friend my character portrays the perspective of the audience of the film Time and again he tries to warn his friend about how things can spiral down but Yudi pays no heed The character was pretty close to me as a person so it wasnt very difficult Id say3 What kind of prep did you go through to play a rapper Ive been a student of music ever since my childhood I learned classical music and have a good sense of rhythm It definitely helped in rapping I did draw out some references to rappers but I tried not to imitate any in an attempt to make it uniquely mine Nitin Mishra Spitfire wrote the wonderful lyrics and rapped the actual song which I memorised for the shoot I wanted to make sure that I knew the lyrics fully as its the actors responsibility to give the director what heshe wantsWell theatre training definitely helps in memorising dialogues or rap lyrics4 ImMature has played a big part in your career How much did the series help you in developing your skill Im very thankful for it Casting Bay was the company that cast me in the show and Ive now had a longrunning association with TVF I had been a fan of their work and to have worked with them on two shows was extremely special I literally got to spend time on set with legends Jitendra Kumar Gopal Dutt Sameer Saxena Deepak Mishra to name a few All I did was keep my eyes and ears open and absorb as much as I could There is always so much to learn if you have the will to learn Everyone on the team was very warm and I definitely had a lot of fun shooting for the show5 Do you feel it is a good time to be an actor now that there are multiple platforms for artists to show their craft and language boundaries are also slowly getting blurred Oh its a GREAT time to be an actor There are literally so many avenues and good actors are always needed There are so many stories being written for such a varied range of characters The old box of quintessential actor or actress has broken and now people resonate with characters more than just the actors Its really great that good stories are now being appreciated6 This is also a very competitive field How do you deal with rejections Yeah I agree it is super competitive Especially with things like social media following becoming an important factor for casting I feel like rejection isnt really rejection its just a pathway into the project that is destined for me It was a little tough in the beginning but after all this while I audition and forget about it I dont see auditions as a test for the final project rather the audition is the final project itself If I get the shoot well great If I dont my gig was only the audition7 Can you elaborate on your journey as an actor What prompted you to take up acting as a career Haha that one goes way back I started performing on stage ever since my childhood I was always more focused on extracurricular activities In the 8th grade I decided I wanted to be an actor Now that I think of it it was appreciation while being on stage which made me decide that Applause is addictive I think its just applause that we performers chase I chose my college and stream accordingly and did BMM Mithibai Drama Team proved to be an integral part of my training and conditioning After that in 2013 I did my first professional play in a competition called Thespo I got integrated into the theatre circuit and there on I had a lot to learn from people like Quasar T Padamsee Akaash Khurana Akarsh Khurana Arghya Lahiri to name a few By then auditions had started and I had started getting casting calls too I was also working as a lighting designeroperator for the stage and had started working in more plays as an actor After that point my work was generating work and then I did projects like The Insiders Disneys Aladdin a couple of commercials and many more theatre performances Its merely a start to my journey and I really wish that I get to collaborate with people and learn things that I never even knew existed8 Do you recall valuable advice or a memorable moment in your career so far Actor ko aloo ki tarah versatile hona chahiye hai Jo bhi dish mein jaaye hai adapt hoke dish ko badhiya bana dena chahiyeAlso ReadRatnaa Sinha Romance during filmrsquos making is offlimits9 Whats next for you Im reading new scripts auditioning for new projects I really want to explore the range of characters that I think I can play But of course thinking you can do something versus actually doing it is poles apart Im also exploring realtime 3D animation and virtual production Learning newage filmmaking techniques and getting ready for the future I guess