Bollywood baddy Murali Sharma best known for his roles in Main Hoon Na, Golmaal Returns, Golmaal-3, Singham….and the recent Oh My God is hitting the headlines these days. Well… the last week of October the talented actor will have two releases in the same week. Prakash Jha’s Chakravyuh and the Emraan Hashmi starrer Rush followed by a Telugu film with Rana Dugbatti called Krishnam Vande Jagat Guru. Besides this he is working on a Tamil film with superstar Ajith and he signed up his first Malyalam flick with Mohanlal. MovieChakkar caught up with Murali for a brief chat. Excerpts… How’s the response to Oh My God? Overwhelming. People love the film. I am happy for Paresh and Umesh Shukla. This once again proves that a good film begins with good writing. You played the corrupt politician Laxman Mishra but we didn’t see much of you… My role got chopped a bit. It was edited. Even I was a little disappointed when I saw the film, but I am sure it was for the good of the film. It happens when one needs to make a film crisper. I have no complaints. The team of PMG is a family to me, so no regrets at all. I am very happy with the success of the film. Tell us about Chakravyuh? Well… it’s a Prakash Jha film. He is a great story teller and a great maker. It’s based on Naxalism. I play a Naxalite called Naga. It’s a very interesting character and I am looking forward to it. How is it working with Prakash Jha? Absolutely brilliant. I am not qualified enough to comment about Bhaiji, well we call him Bhaiji, but yes he is simply superb to work with. I get to learn a lot in the process. And don’t have to do much, just say the lines with conviction and it goes bang on. And how was it working with Arjun Rampal, Abhay Deol, Manoj Bajpayee… Very nice. They are such a lovely guys. We had a great time shooting for Chakravyuh. Especially I and Manoj bonded really well. I even cooked a nice vegetarian meal for Manoj and few other friends one afternoon during a break. And so did Manoj on the next off day. Manoj is like a brother. So you cook? Oh… I love to cook. And I think my passion to cook comes from my passion to eat. Cooking is also very relaxing and a great stress buster for me. When there is no shoot, I and Ashwini we both end up cooking most of the time. It’s fun. Tell us about Rush? I have an emotional connect with the film. I will tell you why. Shamim Desai, the director of the film, is a very dear friend. Actually was a dear friend. Unfortunately he is no more, he passed away. We developed a great bond during shooting of this film. And today when it’s up for release he is not there. Life is so strange. I will always miss Shamim. But yes I am happy the film is finally getting released. What is your role in it? I play a small time Delhi based gangster called Prince and how he comes in contact with Emraan Hashmi and helps him later on in life….Prince is a loving guy. You will fall in love with him. I have done quite a few roles of a gangsters but nothing like this one. It’s a very cute role. And the Telugu film? It’s called Krishnam Vande Jagat Guru with Rana Daggubatti. It’s directed by this genius guy called Krish. I can’t say anything about the role because it may give away the story. All I can say is I have a very performance oriented role and last when I spoke to Krish he told me it’s up for release on 26 October, though now I hear it might get pushed to 9 November. I am looking forward to it You did not have problems with the language? My mother tongue is Telugu so it’s perfectly fine. Not many people know that. In fact, my first film with Mahesh Babu got me the best actor Nandi Award for the negative role. Happy with the work you are doing? Yes, I am happy. And I am trying constantly to move ahead. I know I will. Besides all this there is a Sanjay Dutt film called Zindagi 50/50 on which I am working on, then there is the children’s film My Friend Ganesha Part 5, and another Telugu film with Ram Charam Tej, a Tamil film Ajith and I have just signed up a Malyalam film called Karmyodha with Lal sir (Mohan Lal). So you see I have no reasons to complain. Life is beautiful. Amen to that.