At 9.30 am, two days before the inaugural show of his first directorial venture, actor Sharman Joshi is at rehearsals in boxers and a vest inside the bone-chillingly cold Yashwant Rao Chavan Natya Sankul in Matunga. Joshi, who is also the producer and the lead actor, is in costume for the play Main Aur Tum. A Hindi adaptation of Bernard Slade’s Same Time, Next Year, it also features Marathi actress Tejashri Pradhan. Joshi talks about returning to the stage and his love for theatre.

Q. How do you shift between theatre and films?
A. Theatre is where I come from. My family also has theatre persons largely. I did rigorous theatre for 10 years, while I was doing films. Then, for the next 10 years I concentrated only on films. But once a theatre actor, the thrill and excitement is what you would always want to go back to, and experience more. I’ve been fortunate to be born to modern theatre. By the time I was doing theatre, the usual clichés attached it were not thrust on me. Also, the sound system had improved largely. So, I didn’t have to throw my voice. A year and a half back I did a play after a decade (Raju Raja Ram Aur Main), and I felt that I was depriving myself of the pleasure that an actor gets by being on stage. This is a treat for me. Stage gives me more freedom and thrill. As for balancing films and theatre projects, it is all about time management.