Shekhar Suman takes trip down memory lane, thanks Rekha for working with him in 'Utsav'

Mumbai 25 August (IANS): Bollywood actor Shekhar Suman today took to his social media account in sharing a nice anecdote over his movie Utsav that released back in the 80s.

The post read, "Thank you Shash ji for the most stupendous break of my life as the lead actor in your magnum-opus UTSAV,my debut film opp the prima donna Rekha.Thank you Girish Karnad ,The Rhodes Scholar,creator of Tughlaq,for presenting me so well. Thank you Rekha for agreeing to work opposite a rank newcomer.i wouldn't be wat im without anyone of you.Thank you universe for accepting me ."

In an interview last year, Shekhar had shed some light on how he bagged this movie just within 15 days of his arrival in Mumbai. While crediting actress Shammi for the opportunity in Utsav, Suman revealed that revealed that the actress had convinced Shashi Kapoor and Girish Karnad to cast him, then aged just 21.

The two stalwarts then decided to meet him and within 15 minutes into the meeting, Shekhar Suman was cast for the role, opposite superstar Rekha. Shekhar Suman had to perform several intimate scenes with Rekha in his debut itself and that instantly garnered him recognition within no time.

The movie is considered to be one of the most controversial films of Rekha's career as she potrayed the role of a bold and sensous courtesan. She also did many erotic scenes in the film.

Talking about Shekhar Suman, he has been an actor par excellence and went onto achieve more success in the TV industry as opposed to Bollywood mainstream. He appeared in some cult classic TV shows like Reporter, Dekh Bhai Dekh and his own chat show, Movers and Shakers. Movers and Shakers blended comedy with a fun guest interaction and was the first of its kind on Indian television. Talking about Utsav, The movie was directed by Girish Karnad and produced by Shashi Kapoor and starred Rekha along with Shekhar Suman in lead. Shekhar Suman was also an important part of movies like Manav Hatya, Naache Mayuri, Sansar, Anubhav, Tridev, Pati Parmeshwar, Chor Machaye Shor and Ranbhoomi. Further, Suman went onto become one of the judges of The Great Indian Laughter Challenge along with Navjot Singh Sidhu. He has also featured as a judge on several other comedy shows such as Comedy Circus and Comedy Superstar. Shekhar Suman was last seen in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s OTT series Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar, that won his great reviews.

---IANS

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