It sure 'pays' to be an actor:Vishal[Roni

By qualification he is a doctor in ayurvedic medicine. But besides being a doctor Vishal Watvani has done many things in a span of just six years. He was an assistant director to Ramesh Sippy for Gatha, has been a radio jockey with All India Radio and VJ for Zee Music and done writing for B4U movie channel before he finally opted for acting on television. The young and good-looking actor who has done quite a few serials is really on the roll doing three shows that include two dailies and a weekly – Viraasat, Twinkle Beauty Parlour and Vaidehi. But ask him whether he is an actor by choice and he says he would have loved to be a writer.

"Unfortunately a writer is lowly paid and a lowly regarded unsung hero," regrets Vishal who wrote some quite serious stuff for B4U Movies. "I wrote for non-fiction shows on films that were quite serious and dealt with a particular era or generation. They were mostly research-based shows and I put in lot of efforts. But the payment was abysmal." That's precisely the reason why Vishal opted for acting. "There is lot of money here," he laughs, "besides popularity though not as much creativity as in writing."

Regret apart, Vishal has come to terms with the state of affair. "Go with the flow and make most of it till the sun shines," he laughs. And surely he is making most of in terms of money and popularity as well as putting in his best efforts in the roles he is doing. The Ronnie of Viraasat who works for the Lambas is a pawn between the age-old rivalry between the Lambas and Kharbandas as Ronnie is used by Rishab Lamba to create a rift between Rahul and Priyanka.

"Ronnie had an affair with Priyanka (Sangeeta Ghosh) in college and he can't bear to see her married to Rahul. Thus Rishab uses him as a ploy to create trouble in Rahul and Priyanka's marriage. He enters into the plot but ends up as a failure. He also fails in his love life with Juhi (Kanika Maheshwari)," elaborates Vishal who plays a failure in Twinkle Beauty Parlour as well.

"I play a well-educated son of a upper middle class family where marriage can't happen without a dowry. He falls in love with Shweta (Dimple Inamdar) and after a brief affair they get married. But that's the end of peace in his life as Shweta becomes the main target of my family forcing me to vanish from their lives," says Vishal who also has an interesting role in Vaidehi where he plays Sameer who had an illicit affair with Janki, Aryan Jaisingh's first wife. "The child that is shown in the family was born out of that illicit liaison," he adds. "Sameer's entry will happen in coming episodes."

Among the three serials, his favourite is Viraasat because the story is good, it has very good treatment and the dialogues are great. "Good writing is very much visible there. Besides the role is also very good," gushes Vishal who has done Balaji's Kkusum and Kesar besides a host of other serials like Kamini Damini, Kabhi Aaye Na Judai and Yehi To Hai Woh.

Vishal left direction because it was too technical and quit writing because it was not paying. Though he finds acting more paying but less satisfying Vishal says things are progressing well and he is looking for good times as well as working with Balaji again. "Something definite is in the offing," he assures.