He started his stage career in Purushottam Berde 's play ' Tur Tur ' in 1983, and today after spending 29 years in the field of entertainment Prashant Damle can surely look back with a lot of pride. The talented actor will be the first stage actor to complete 10,700 stage performances "and it's sure making me happy," says the actor with a lot of humility, adding, "I know people are saying it might be a world record etc., but I have no idea as of now. I am just pursuing my passion, which is acting and am happy that I've been able to entertain my fans for so many years." As Prashant is all set to be felicitated by the Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan on Jan 5, the actor gets up close and personal with TOI:Prashant Damle has a huge role in making many plays household names in Maharashtra. ' Brahmachari ', ' Moruchi Mavshi ', 'Char Divas Premache', 'Eka Lagnachi Gosht', 'Gela Madhav Kunakade' are just a few that come to mind. So, what has kept him going for so long? He says, "I do something that I really love. Ever since I started my career in 1983, I never looked at acting as a profession. It is my passion and one never gets bored when pursuing a passion!" Ask him if he never fears getting mechanical doing so many shows and he says, "It's a space I am very wary about treading on, but with plays, you have an advantage of not getting into a rut because each time your audience is different and their reactions are different. That's why I believe that we actors have a huge responsibility towards the audience. After all, they pay to watch us act."While many actors often seem worried about being slotted in particular genres, Prashant Damle is least bothered and he has an explanation for it. ���������First of all, I truly believe that comedy is a multi-layered genre, and though up front, it does involve invoking laughter, there are may shades to comic characters too. I've done so many serious parts in funny plays, so I like to believe that far from being slotted in comic roles, I specialise in them," he says.While the actor has excelled in the comic genre, he is a bit sceptical when he speaks about the content of plays these days. "Not just in comedy, even in general, writing for TV, films, plays etc has suffered as not many people are reading enough these days. Also, the time taken to process a thought to putting it in a script is no more a liberty for writers. They have to deliver in a given span of time and that is often not the best for creativity. Comedy suffers most in this setup as writing for comedy has to be very succinct and to the point." However, even as he rues this, the actor says, "At the end of the day, we artists are responsible for content and quality, and unless we do something about it, there is no use complaining."