‘How could SRK do this to us, yaar?’

... asks Ganesh Venkatraman jokingly, as his serial Antariksh will go off air to make place for KBC

SHARIN WADER

   Make way for Shah Rukh Khan, the Badshah of Bollywood! This must have been literally told to the team of Star Plus' Antariksh which will now go off air to accommodate SRK's Kaun Banega Crorepati.
   Ganesh Venkatraman, who plays Amar, the lead role in the science-fiction, is yet to come to terms with the fact that he will no longer be playing the macho man who saves people in distress. "How could SRK do this to us, yaar?" he says jokingly. But adds on a serious note, "I have grown up watching SRK's films and it's a privilege to make way for him." So there are no ill feelings? "Of course we are feeling bad that the serial is being taken off air," he says.
   While it was earlier speculated that Star Plus' Karam Apnaa Apnaa and Virasat would go off air, the channel has now decided to do away with Antariksh, as the serial is not as popular as the other two. "The target audience of Antariksh were kids. And among them the serial was quite popular. I used to get good response from them," he says defending his serial.
   Ganesh's role in the serial is partly based on the character of Ram. Does he fear that like Arun Govil, who had earlier played Ram in Ramayan, people might find it difficult to associate him with other kinds of roles? "Not at all. I'm happy that people have not stereotyped me," says Ganesh, who is content with the way his career is going. "I am doing another science-fiction which is the first 3-D serial to be made in India. It's a bilingual and will be telecast in Hindi soon. Besides that I have been approached for another serial and the role is quite different from the ones I'm doing now," he says.