| On the small screen, Rajiv Paul plays the scheming Satpal Chaudhary in Asit Modi's afternoon daily Saarrthi (Star Plus).
Off-screen, however, he turned out to be a saviour for the cast of Nirav Parekh's Hindi play Paying Guest. Directed and written by Paritosh Painter, the drama was staged at Hotel Crowne Plaza in Dubai last Friday.
The crew and cast, consisting of Delnaz Paul (Sweety of Kal Ho Na Ho), Balwinder Singh Suri (Dil To Pagal Hain) and Jayesh Thakkar, had landed in Dubai except for Abhishek Sharma (Hrithik Roshan's kid brother in Kaho Na Pyaar Hai) who was supposed to arrive a day prior to the show. What went wrong
| | | THE CAST: Jayesh Thakkar, Balwinder Singh Suri, Delnaz Paul, Abhishek Sharma and Paritosh Painter in Paying Guest | Sharma found himself stranded at Mumbai airport. He had just renewed his passport.
At the immigration counter it was detected that the new passport also bore the cancellation stamp on it along with the old passport!
"The boy was in tears as the immigration authorities refused to allow him to travel," says Painter.
"He was extremely enthusiastic about performing abroad."
Sharma's non-arrival signalled panic for the play's cast and crew. "We did not know what to do. We could not do without the character as he had important lines and cues for the rest of the cast," says Painter. How the replacement was found
Rajiv Paul was accompanying wife Delnaz (who stars in the play) to Dubai. "I was there just for a holiday along with her. In fact, I was at a shopping mall splurging on perfumes and shoes when I received a panic call from Paritosh. He asked me if I could step in.
This was after they had considered everyone from the producer to the PR to step in as the replacement! I just rushed back to the hotel and barely had two hours to go through the lines.
Abhishek Sharma was playing the character of Lucky, the kid of Baby (Delnaz Paul) and Ballu (Balwinder Singh Suri). There was no way I could play their child; so I was made to be Baby's brother called Lucky. Paritosh stuck to the name as the cast was so used to calling out that name and to avoid mix-ups."
Smooth sailing
Adds Paul, "There were two shows back-to-back at a hotel so there was no time to ponder and reflect. There were plenty of on-the-spot improvisations and at one entry point I was wondering what to do and say next but the rest of the cast was extremely co-operative.
The play went on smoothly and no one in the audience would have known that I was roped in the play two hours earlier." I played my wife's brother!
"Though Delnaz and I featured in the UTV show Parivartan, we were not cast opposite each other. In that sense, this is the first time I am acting with Delnaz.
And that too essayed her brother in the play. I have done just one drama earlier, Bharat Dabholkar's Funny Thing Called Love. After this experience, I am open to do theatre and even act along with Delnaz," says Paul.
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