How was the experience of having done stand up comedy in Comedy Circus? Though Sunil Sawra and I were eliminated from the show, I enjoyed my stint very much. I got to learn a lot as an actor since we used to spend a lot of time in putting up acts impromptu. I think what went wrong was the script which we worked on. You never know, some scripts click, while some do not. What is your role in Ajai Sinha's serial Ghar Ek Sapna? I play the role of Shekhar. Ghar bananeke chakkar mein shaadi bhi nahi karta hoon. I am a very soft guy in the serial who likes this theeki ladki called Devika played by Barkha Madaan. What attracted you about Ghar Ek Sapna? The fact that it is Ajai who is making the serial was the main reason why I agreed to work in it. Thirteen years ago, I had acted in one episode in an afternoon serial directed by Ajai Sinha for Doordarshan. I have done big as well as small roles for which I have shot for two or three days in various serials of his since then. What I like about Ajai's serials is that besides the fact that they are different, they are also issue-based. After Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki, you do not have any serial with Ekta Kapoor? Today every actor wants to work with Ekta Kapoor. There is no point at all in telling that I want to work with her. It is the other way round. The point is whether Ekta Kapoor wants to work with me now. Tell us about the films in which you have worked till date! I have worked in Deepak Balraj Vij's film Sai Baba and Essmayeel Shroff's Thoda Tum Badlo Thoda Hum Badle, besides Meghna Gulzar's Just Married in which my co-stars were Fardeen Khan and Esha Deol. Meghna knew Lubna for a long time. Lubna suggested my name for Just Married. It was just a 3 -day work and I did about four scenes in the film. Why did you quit working in Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki after reaching the zenith of your popularity by playing the role of Om in it? It is now almost two years since I left Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki. Frankly, I got tired of the serial because I got bored with my character. Even today, there are people who frankly tell me that it was my most foolish decision to have walked out of Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki. I was part of the serial for almost five years. In what way did working in Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki benefit you? It was while working in Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki that I happened to bump into Rinku Dhawan who played the role of my sister in it. I fell in love with her and we got married. Do you regret having quit the serial? I have absolutely no regrets at all about having quit acting in Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki. Though on paper I was required for just 15 days for the serial, I used to end up allotting almost 25 days for shooting for Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki every month. Saakshi Tanwar who played my wife in the serial used to believe in her role as Parvati but I could not because there came a stage when I started feeling that I was rattling off the same dialogues and meeting the same co-artistes month after month. I discussed with my wife Rinku abut this and only then did I take a decision to walk out of the serial. Did you have any reservations about sporting grey hair when the serial had a generation leap? Frankly I had no compunctions at all when I was asked to sport grey hair and play dad to Tina Parakh in Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki but these days, I find it quite difficult to say yes if some one wants to cast me as dad to say an actor like Harsh Chhaya. What is the reason that you are extremely choosy as an actor? I want to do only those roles, which will enable me to do justice to them as an actor. I do not want to accept each and every role that is offered to me just because there is a lot of money in it. Even a bar dancer is making crores today. That is not a big deal at all. I have confidence in myself as an actor and hence I cannot bring myself to work in inconsequential serials. I can live without a car and a bungalow. Is it true that you were offered Harsh Chhaya's role in Smriti Irani's serial Thodi Hai Zameen Thoda Hai Aasmaan? Way back in December 2005, when Smriti had offered to cast me in her serial, I had told her that I was trying to live without serials after having worked for five years in Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki. However, the launch of her serial was delayed and by that time, I was ready to take up her serial. Since by then Harsh Chhaya was cast in the serial, I was asked to play the role of her husband in Thodi Hai Zameen Thoda Hai Aasmaan. Is it true that though you have not worked with Vipul Amritlal Shah, he had recommended your name to several filmmakers? It was indeed nice on Vipul's part to have sent a text message referring my name to several filmmaker friends of his. Most of them however havetold me that since their films were already on the floors, they were not in a position to cast me in their films and hence asked me to have patience and wait for one more year. |
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