Meet Hemal Thakkar: Producer who gave Dilip Joshi his biggest success before TMKOC, worked in theatre, TV, started this company with Paresh Rawal

'Ek hi life hai, sab kuch dekhna hai'. Well, this saying goes perfectly with Hemal A Thakkar (popularly known as Hemal Thakkar), the actor-producer who started his journey from theatres and went on to achieve success in television, movies, and then even in OTT. Hailing from a theatre background, he grew up watching his father, veteran acting legends, and got inspired to devote his life to this medium. 

Hemal's love for theatre

In an exclusive interview with DNA India, Hemal recalls his journey and says, "My father was a theatre artiste. So I was exposed to theatre right from the beginning, as a kid. At that point, it was inspiring to watch theatre, from Gujarati to Marathi, and naturally, you get inspired, have that respect for theatre." Hemal started doing plays from his college days, and even won inter-college competitions. Hemal studied at Wilson College, which is popular for such cultural activities as theatre. And these competitions laid his foundation in theatre. Hemal's first play was a Marathi play, directed by the late Nishikant Kamat. The Drishyam director studied in the same college, and they were good friends. 

Hemal's first TV show that never saw the light of day

Nishikant Kamat also directed Hemal's first TV show, which was his first acting stint for the medium. However, it never saw the light of day. Speaking about the same, he said, "Aashiana, that was the name of the show. We shot some 50 episodes of it masti-masti mein." Ask him why it never got aired, and he says, "I was very naive. It was a different era, where we used to produce, and then look for platforms. Doordarshan was there, and then Z, Star came in; so I don't know what exactly went wrong, but we had fun." After Aashiana, Hemal continued acting in plays. Then he started producing it, and then he took a leap of faith by jumping into producing TV shows. 

Hemal Thakkar's inspirations were...

Apart from his father, Hemal credited several veteran theatre artistes, who taught him, or he learnt more about theatre just by observing them. "There have been various inspiring directors, actors, and writers who inspired a generation. I have very high regard for Chandrakant Kulkarni, Shailesh Dave, Paresh (Rawal) bhai, and Naseeruddin (Shah) bhai. They are all masters of the art. You need to watch them to believe how magic happens in the theatre. 

When Hemal A Thakkar gave Dilip Joshi his best work

Hemal remembers his biggest achievement in theatre and TV, and reveals, "My first production in theatre was 'Tame Mane Gamo Chho', directed by Umesh Shukla (OMG 1 director), it ran 150 shows across the nation. My biggest hit play was Bapu Tame Kamal Kari, which was starred and directed by Dilip Joshi (Jethalal of TMKOC). It was later adapted into a TV show, Shubh Mangal Savadhan. For this play, we did around 400 shows worldwide.   

 

 

 

 

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Hemal Thakkar and Paresh Rawal's company: Playtime Creation

During the theatre days, Hemal and Paresh Rawal formed a production company, Playtime Creation. The main motto of the production house was to make content, which is unusual. TV shows like Shubh Mangal Savadhan, Hamara Bajaj, Kab Honge Kamyaab!, Bhagvan Bachaye Inse, Kaho Na Kya Hai. The popular movie franchise- OMG! Oh My God is also co-produced under Playtime Creation banner.