Actor Swwapnil Joshi thanks audience for breaking his image as Lord Krishna

We all remember Swwapnil Joshi as Young Krishna from the much-loved mythological show of the 90s titled ‘Krishna’ directed and created by Ramanand Sagar. Before this, he was already a household name as a child actor when he played young Kusha in another mythological series ‘Uttar Ramayana’. Talking about how difficult was it to break an image of a lord and try out roles in different genres, the 43-year-old says it’s all because of the audience who accepted him in every character.

“I genuinely feel that I tried my best but more than me, the entire credit goes to the audience because every mythological actor tried to break his or her image but very few have been a success in that way and you can count them on fingers. I am one of them because I successfully did such roles plus comedy, romance, and everything so I think the actual credit goes to the audience who accepted me in every role I did,” he told Opoyi in a telephonic conversation.

After working in mythological shows, Swwapnil took a break from acting and made a comeback as a youth actor with Sanjeev Bhattacharya’s show ‘Campus’. He then continued working in several successful Hindi shows before making it big in Marathi cinema with his first film ‘Manini’, where he played the lead role of Deepak Rajyadhakshya followed by ‘Checkmate’, ‘Amhi Satpute’ and many more.

Talking about the emergence of regional cinema over the period, he says it’s phenomenal.

“I think regional cinema is here to stay and grow manifolds in the time to come. I think with every passing day, the power and influence of Hindi cinema is going to i would not say drop down but I am going to say that regional cinema will rise up to that power and you have already seen that happening in southern languages.

“There are lots of South Indian films that probably earn more than Hindi films. That eventually in the long run is going to happen with every form of regional films. Bengali is doing some amazing regional stuff. Malayalam cinema at the forefront. Marathi cinema is doing great work for itself. I think, in the time to come, regional content is the way forward in terms of OTT,” he said.

Giving examples of hit ventures like ‘Money Heist’ and ‘Narcos’, he says “ technically what is ‘Money Heist’? it’s regional content. ‘Narcos’ is regional content. The language is region-specific but the audience is universal because the story is so gripping. I think regional content is the way forward and I have been very blessed and proud to be part of that change and evolving scale of Marathi cinema in my own little way.”

From child artist to now, Swwapnil says his journey has been enchanting.

“It’s a journey of constant learning, understanding, exploring new avenues. From great moments to not-so-great moments. It’s a journey full of gratitude, it’s a journey with lot of fun along the way,” he said.

So which phase he has enjoyed the most?

“For an actor, the best is always yet to come. I personally feel that anytime when an actor feels that he actually has got what he has set out to achieve, his hunger somehow ends so I think for any creative person his tomorrow is always going to be bigger and better than his today or yesterday. I think that is what he or she wants to believe in,” says the actor.

His next project includes ‘ Bali’, which is releasing on April 16, and season 2 of his hit web show ‘Samantar’. “Hopefully around may that should release,” he said adding that there are two more films that are coming up along with another web show.

As an actor, did Swwapnil set any target for him and he says, “It might sound very cliche when I say that but I am very moody in terms of targets so there are days when I have next ten years plan and then there are days when I don’t know my next moment so I think I am not very target driven guy.”

However, every year he decides to do different things

“Like last year I decided to do a lot of things in my life then COVID-19 happened and like the entire world, all my plans went for a toss.

“So we are slowly getting back so this year is all about reinventing not just for me but for the entire world in totality so this year is not going to be about hits of flops or magical numbers of Rs. 100 crore or Rs. 200 crores. This year is going to be about surviving, this year is going to be about trying. This year is about putting the best foot forward and moving ahead in the journey. this year is completely different from any of the years that anyone has ever led in their life I would say,” he sums up.