When actor Yashpal Sharma earned Rs 18 a day

New Delhi (IANS) – Actor Yashpal Sharma has recalled the time when he used earn just Rs 18 per day.

Sharma, who has made his mark over the years with performances in films such as “Lagaan”, “Gangaajal”, “Ab Tak Chhappan” and “Apaharan”, recalled his days in Hisar in the nineties, when he used to work as a typist.

“My wages were a meagre Rs 18 per day. One day a contractor gave me Rs 300. I was stunned to see the offer as Rs 300 was a huge amount back then. I refused to accept it, but he insisted me to keep the money. When I narrated this incident to my elder brother and father, they started laughing. They told me he must have got a huge contract,” Yashpal told IANS.

Sharma is currently seen in the dark comedy web series “A Simple Murder”, and he also has the lead role in the film “Das Capital: Gulamon Ki Rajdhani”.

He recalls when he first read the script of “Das Capital”, he was reminded of incidents in his past. The film deals with corruption and was shot in 2012.

“Certain themes will always be universal to human beings. Be it thousands, lakhs, crores or thousands of crores, we have scams happening all around us. So a screenplay like ‘Das Capital: Gulamon Ki Rajdhani’ will never lose its relevance. Everything has its own time. Finally the time for ‘Das Capital’ has arrived. Albeit after a long wait,” he said, about the film that also features Seema Pahwa and Rajpal Yadav.

“Thanks to the brilliant writing from Shaiwal ji and the conviction of (co-director) Rajen (Kothari) ji, what I tried to do was to be as honest to the character as possible. I never had the baggage of ‘leading’ the cast as such. Also, Rajen ji had entrusted most of the casting to me. I had some brilliant co-actors to work with which made my life very easy. The ease with which we worked was that of one huge family with a lot of mutual respect for each other,” said Yashpal.

The film is directed by the late Kothari and Dayal Nihalani. Kothari was a renowned cinematographer too.

“I had worked with Rajen ji on ‘Samar’. It was my second film. During those 25 days in Sagar (Madhya Pradesh), he came across as a fine human being. Working with him closely on ‘Das Capital’, my impression got confirmed,” he said.

“As a director, he was a delight for us actors. He never over instructed us or imposed himself on us and gave us ample space and welcomed suggestions from actors and the crew. At the same time he made sure to ‘okay’ the take only once he had got what he envisioned. As a director he was calm, composed, patient and approachable,” he added.

The film has released on the OTT Platform Cinemapreneur.