Regret not getting to learn music from my grandfather, says Rahul Deshpande

Classical singer Rahul Deshpande is playing his grandfather, renowned vocalist Vasantrao Deshpande, in the upcoming film Me Vasantrao, a biopic written and directed by Nipun Dharmadhikari.

Rahul never could learn music from his grandfather. Speaking at the launch of the film's music album, he said, “It is my bad luck that my grandfather passed away when I was just three and a half years old. So I couldn’t enjoy his presence and learn singing from him, which I will regret throughout my life. I came to know later he dearly wanted to teach me music.”

Sharing an anecdote, Rahul said, “He once told my father that he wants to adopt me. My dad asked, ‘Why are you saying this?’ He said, ‘Because I want to teach him. I want to teach him in such a way that I make him perform so that people know how I used to perform when I was young’.”

Though he could not learn from his grandfather, Rahul took inspiration from him and learnt music the way Eklavya learnt archery from Dronacharya in the epic Mahabharata. “My grandmother also told me he was very much interested in teaching me," he said. "She advised me to keep his picture in front of me while doing my riyaaz [musical practice]. So for 12 years I kept his picture in front of me and for eight hours daily I used to do sadhana [meditation]; I don’t call it riyaaz because whatever I got out of it is only known to me.”

Directed by Nipun Dharmadhikari and produced by Jio Studios, Me Vasantrao will be released in theatres on 1 April.