Mandar Chandwadkar who plays Aatmaram Tukaram Bhide on SAB TV's Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah (Neela Telefilms) has an impressive theatre background. He was in Class 8 when he made his debut in theatre. He has acted in the plays Aamhi Shalet Janar Nahi (a Marathi play) in 1987, All the Best, a Marathi commercial play in 2001 - 2002 which went on to have 450 shows all over Maharashtra, did Hindi Urdu plays in Dubai in 1998 to 1999 titled Roshani, Rajjo Ki Shadi, Mangte Reh Jaoge and from 2003 got associated with English plays like Punch-a-Tantra (which had 200 shows in India, Europe and Malaysia), Monkey Business and Funny Things Called Love with Bharat Dabholkar.
Mandar feels that his theatre experience has groomed him into a better actor for comedy roles which helped him greatly for his current serial Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah. "All the Best was a comedy on a hearing impaired, speech impaired and visually impaired characters. I had played the man who couldn't see. This play helped me to learn about comic timing and how to react. Every good actor should be a good reactor."
He is also full of praise for his co-star Dilip Joshi. Mandar says, "He is a very nice human being. He taught me how to deliver punch lines with lan and catch the humour between the lines."
A few years ago the word tuition' was misspelled as tution' on Bhide's nameplate which was outside his door on the sets of this series. Mandar after spotting the error changed it to the correct spelling.
Residents of middle-class housing societies can relate to the soap very well. What is his take on that? "Exactly, as the characters hail from families of the same socio-economic group they can obviously indentify with it. The residents of our series are a part of a cosmopolitan society. In fact when they see each and every scene they can draw a parallel to their lives. All the Indian festivals are celebrated in it too."
Mandar is pleasantly amused when viewers request him for admission in his class. After all advertisements for Bhide Tutorials (bearing the same title as the tutorial in his show) are splashed all over Mumbai city.
In fact there are viewers who want to purchase his flat as well. We jokingly asked as to what the price of his flat was. Mandar joked, "Bhide will never sell his flat."
What if Bhide's daughter Sonu (Nidhi Bhanushali) marries Tappu (Bhavya Gandhi)? His jovial reply was, "Aah, that is a million dollar question. He doesn't want her to do that. Nor does she. Actually, he finds Tappu undisciplined and naughty. He doesn't study. In future if he turns over to a new leaf, he would be okay with the match though."
Mandar is open to playing all kinds of roles in future. His dream role is however of Amol Palekar's role as Arun Pradeep in the classic Basu Chatterjee Hindi romantic comedy filmChhoti Si Baat.
