Sharman Joshi has impeccable comic timing, a fact that has been proved several times on screen in his career of over two decades, with roles in Xcuse Me, Rang De Basanti, the Golmaal series, or 3 Idiots among others. However, Sharman surprises you when he says that it is drama as a genre, and not comedy, which comes to him naturally as an actor.

"I think drama comes to me naturally. It came to me easily when I first started acting in college plays. I am quite at ease with that and I did not have to do much learning and understanding. It came naturally and instinctively as opposed to comedy. I was good at comedy, but to learn the finer aspects of the genre needed some working on. With my theatre experience I got enough chance to work on the intricacies of comedy. When I say intricacies, it is about the timing. Normally, if you miss a second, the comedy will not be the same. Thanks to theatre, I could learn that," he told IANS.

Sharman has been balancing films and theatre simultaneously for years. However, he did take a break from live theatre production to focus on films. Something, which he is not proud of.

"I did theatre for 10 years and then there was a phase when I didn't do theatre for 10 years because I wanted to focus on my film career. Then, after I felt settled, I am doing theatre again over the past three to four years," he says.

What pulled him away to the world of stage? "I felt settled in my film career and I didn't need to dedicate so much time to the stage. Acting is very meditative and I could focus on only one thing in life. Then, I realised I was prepared to do live theatre and be in front of the camera as well. Once I got the confidence that I could manage both, I got back to theatre. Once I got back to theatre, I realised I should have gone back a little earlier, because I was missing out on so much fun," he says.

"Theatre is my first love, I started from there. For any actor, even if they have not started from theatre, that has to be the most exciting platform to perform on because you get the joy of instant gratification or not from the audience. The excitement of a throbbing live audience is something else" he says.

Sharman will be next seen in the film "Fauji Calling".