The struggle is over!

Mona

Content is the king, they say. And for actor Yashpal Sharma, with two decades of experience behind him, number one criterion for picking up a film. “I have dabbled in different mediums, genres, languages and as an artiste at this point my priority is the content,” says the veteran actor, in Chandigarh, on Tuesday.

Come Friday, and you will see him play the protagonist’s father in SP Chauhan: The Struggling Man, a film based on life of Thakur Satpal Chauhan, a known social worker from Karnal, Haryana. 

“The length of the role or the remuneration it fetches or the banner a film is made under are inconsequential to me, if it’s a story that I want to be part of, I am on.”

With Jimmy Shergill and Yuvika Choudhary in lead roles, this film is stated to be a social commentary, and a movement against alcoholism. The story, which captures poverty to prosperity, is picked form real life.  

Accompanying Yashpal was Satpal Chauhan, the man that film is made after. “The film is based on the book Sangharsh Ko Salaam that is about life of Satpal Chauhan. He was not keen for a film but his friends wanted this inspiring story with this message that one can become rich by sheer hard work reach to youngsters," says Yashpal.” Satpal Chauhan makes for a good role model. “While the film holds the moralistic streak, it is also entertainment from the word go.”

Back to Yashpal, year 2019 has good tidings for him. Post SP Chauhan that hits theatre this Friday, there is a Bangladeshi film Fagun Hawai, a comedy that’s about huge language conflict that broke out between Bangla and Urdu. Then there is another Hindi project Mr Paanwala in which he plays the lead role opposite Mita Vashisht followed by Muso, a film based on John Steinbeck’s book Of Mice and Men.

mona@tribunemail.com