With Fatehshikst, get entertained with the slice of our history, says Chinmay Mandlekar

Marathi film Fatehshikst, directed by Digpal Lanjekar boasts of capturing the first ‘surgical strike’ in Swarajya. The film, based on a thrilling attack using guerrilla warfare by Shivaji Maharaj on Mughals. It will be screened on Zee Talkies on August 16 at 12 noon and 6 pm. Actor Chinmay Mandlekar has played the role of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in this film and was appreciated by the audience. The NSD (National School of Drama) graduate Chinmay Mandlekar spoke to Cine Buster. Excerpts…..

When Digpal (Lanjekar – writer-director) offered me initially the role of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in Farzand movie, I was very excited. It was very big responsibility, I had to fulfil. By the time of Farzand, I knew that Digpal would not stop making only a single movie on Shivaji-era. So I was already hoping to get a role in Fatehshikast. But when Digpal asked me for Fatteshikast movie means I had definitely done something good in Farzand. I was very happy about this and importantly viewers liked my performance, for which I am grateful.

There’s a lot of action in Fatehshikst. I was to do horse riding which was not shown in Farzand. There was sword fighting too. So all these things had to be prepared vigorously. We’ve shot the whole movie in real time. We have done a lot of shooting on Rajgad. So we all climbed Rajgad. All of this was very challenging, so we needed to be mentally prepared. After this, why did Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj personally undertake such a risky campaign when he had such a valiant chief? Such a question was posed in my mind and to seek answers I did a lot of reading. Shamrao Joshi helped me a lot in this. Both physical and mental preparation were done at the time of Fatehshikst by me.

There are many. The most memorable thing is the shoot we did at Rajgad. There’s a place called ‘Nedha’ which is on the top of a mountain. Actually I am scared of heights but after shooting at such high altitude I have overcome my fear of heights. I am grateful for that. Another thing is that in one scene I give a motivating speech which I initially was not comfortable with. But just before the scene Digpal gave me a paper with another speech. It was a masterpiece with beautiful language. I just fell in love with it. After the shot I took autograph of Digpal on that paper and have preserved it. Again one day I hurt my shoulder during the shoot. It was painful but the moment camera rolled I forgot about it while saying Shivaji Maharaj’s lines. All in all it was extremely memorable working in these two films as Shivaji Maharaj.

There were hordes of compliments after the release of Fatehshikst. Many friends, veteran actors, other language artistes, children complimented me. One of the endearing compliment I received is that I played Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj with much more authenticity. I assure everyone that I will always maintain that conviction while playing Shivaji Maharaj in future.

When the movie was released last year, it received a huge response. We were all waiting for this moment and the whole team is exited to watch it on the television screens. I am very happy that Zee Talkies is bringing this cinema to viewers’ drawing rooms on 16th August. I would like to appeal to the audience not to miss this opportunity and watch this movie on 16th August. Get entertained with the slice of our history.