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Sunday, 17 July 2016 | PRAKRITI ROY

Rithvik DHANJANI talks to PRAKRITI ROY about his new show on History TV18

Tell us about your new show Man vs Job.

The show is about one man taking up extremely difficult and odd jobs that people from our country staying in far flung areas do on a daily basis. It's about my entire journey with them, living like them and with them and doing the work they do. For instance, you'll see me doing crocodile farming. Then I also learnt how people in Sunderbans collect honey in extremely risky conditions but staying with them and going out to collect it. I stayed in their huts and even got a special permission to go into the restricted areas.

What part of it are you looking forward to the most?

I'll get to visit all these places in the rural hinterland that I would normally miss out on. Like when we went to the Sunderbans, we didn't go to Kolkata, which is usually the limit of our travels.

After your first-hand experience with these people and their jobs, what are your thoughts?

These are very important jobs but they are not appreciated enough. While in Sunderbans, I found out that these honey collectors literally fight for their lives so that people like us can have one bottle of honey. Not only do they bear the bee sting, but having the Royal Bengal Tiger is a very real danger. In the jungle, you are nothing more than food for these animals.

Do you have a new perspective on life now?

Definitely! We take our lives for granted and keep cribbing about tiny things. But when you see these people, you start respecting your own life and thank God for it.

You've been more into hosting and less into acting...

I will definitely be back in acting when I find a good script. It doesn't matter to me if it is TV, films or even web.

You've also appeared in a short film...

Ya, that was years back. The film did very well in the film festival circuit and went to Cannes, etc. I wouldn't mind doing a short film again.

What are your thoughts on the current content on TV?

I believe, to each their own. People complain about the content being regressive, etc but it's still working and getting what the makers want. I am not someone who can comment or judge if the content is good or bad. As long as the content is entertaining, it doesn't matter if it's regressive, aggressive or anything else.

You're the heartthrob of TV. How do you handle the attention?

I am, obviously, very happy about it. This is a part and parcel of being in this line of work and it's something I've always craved for.

Have you had any memorable fan experiences?

Sometimes fans go over the top. Once I was performing in South Africa. After the performance, there was this girl who wanted to talk to me and she got really aggressive and pulled me into the crowd. That was a surreal, movie-like experience. But some fans have also done awfully sweet things like naming a star after me, sending me a guitar, etc.

In school, you were overweight. Ever feel afraid of going back to that size, now that you are so fit and on TV?

I weighed 113 kg in school. I hope I don't slip back into it. So I keep a check on what I eat and exercise. I train in acrobatics, kickboxing, dancing (of course), etc apart from the regular gym.