Aamir Dalvi - A slow and steady rise

After a slow start Aamir Dalvi is certainly getting into the thick of things. He started his acting career on television with Nyaay, an afternoon daily for Doordarshan that was conceptualised and directed by Sudhir Mishra. From TV he switched to Bharat Dabholkar's Hinglish theatre but returned to TV two years later to do afternoon and prime time dailies on satellite channels. Since then he has stuck to the small screen and is currently doing two prime time soaps, Jab Love Hua and Saathi Re.

"I didn't begin with a bang," he admits. "That's because my debut serial came on DD which is not watched in metros. But in terms of acting and learning experience it was great working with Sudhir." Post-television debut he opted for theatre because stage is an altogether different experience. "It's live, without retakes and it tests your mettle as an actor," says Aamir who did Dabholkar's Oh, Not Again, Funny Thing Called Love and Monkey Business. "Bharat is a fantastic director and a task master. He makes you work really hard. He says acting is nothing but willingness to learn and work hard on expressions and voice modulation."

He would have loved to do professional Marathi theatre but for his lack of fluency in spoken Marathi. So Aamir turned to TV again. He did Kabhi Aaye Na Judaai, which he calls an average experience. "Actually after the show was revamped they were not able to utilise the full potential of most actors," he remembers. Awaaz on Zee came at a time when the channel was struggling to keep its neck above water in the sea of saas-bahu sagas. "It was a good serial but came at the wrong time. Almost everything that was telecast during those first four years of heavy saas-bahu downpour got drowned in the floods," he laughs.

But things have changed in the last one-year. "Programming is improving and channels have started experimenting with different subjects," feels Aamir who plays Lakhan, a totally negative character in Jab Love Hua. "It's a village character and I love doing it." He is equally excited about his role in his new show Saathi Re. "Though it's a family drama it mainly revolves around three principal characters, Rajeev, Suman and Prem," says Aamir who plays Rajeev who gets married to Suman who was in love with Prem.

"Rajeev is a nice and positive guy and the eldest son of the family. He is like Ram, understanding, rational and sacrificing," he continues. Obviously when there are two guys and one girl there is going to be trouble in marital heaven. "I can't reveal the story but yes, it leads to a love triangle and lot of problems and complications," he says tongue-in-cheek. "But I am quite positive about the serial and giving it my best shot. It has lot of potential to get the audience's acceptance."