Discussion - SHAKIRA - Page 11

e may be recognised as one of the actors from the serial Remix on Star One. But Siddhanth Karnick has not only tried acting but has also dabbled in advertising, modelling, dancing and many more activities in his 24 years.

Down to earth and friendly, Karnick is the face in a number of ads like Reliance Web Connect, Wagon R, Appy Fizz, Castrol, Samsung, Liberty Footwear and Idea Cellular. He's also the brand ambassador of the men's apparel brand, Oxemberg. Soon to be seen in ads for Tata's retail store Westside as well as in a music video for Disney's High School Musical Part 2, Karnick is currently preparing for his role in a dance-oriented film titled Fast Forward. He's also acted in a film called Breaking News that will be out in November as well as in a short film Mera Jehad.

Karnick is a 'Haywards - Mr India 2007' finalist and he won the Mr Talented award at the pageant. He was the face of Hungama channel and hosted a show called Hungama Fungama. He also recently featured in a show on the channel Bindass' Shakira- End of Evil.

Karnick comes from a family with an Army background. "My grandfather was in the British Army but he left it and turned freedom fighter for the country," he says.

A Bachelor of Mass Media graduate from Mumbai's RD National College, Siddhanth majored in advertising. During this time he did some theatre, compred shows and conferences, modeled in ads, his earliest ones being a few for NIIT, VIP Footloose and Coca-Cola. He also took up dancing enjoyed it so much that he even graduated to become a Salsa dance instructor. All this boosted his confidence making him realise that he could hold people's attention.

He also put his creative juices to work. This year, while on the sets of his Reliance ad in Uttarakhand, he discussed some of his creative ideas with the creative director Sukumar Menon, who was at that point of time with Mudra. Impressed with his ideas, Menon asked Karnick to come in for a test and later offered him a job when he moved to Leo Burnett as ECD.

While at Leo Burnett, he worked on some ideas that were to be sent to Leo Burnett Global Product Committee '7 +' event. This is an annual event, where Leo Burnett-ers from across the globe send in their creative ideas on some of the brands they handle. Karnick conceptualised a couple of creative ideas for Bajaj Exhaust Fans and a brand of White Ink corrector for this event and so impressed was Menon that he told him to go ahead and execute these ads.

But fate had other designs for him. Karnick was offered the role of a negative character in the upcoming film Fast Forward and after discussing with his creative head; he went ahead and accepted the role, which meant he had to quit the agency after his three month stint there. "But I enjoyed working in advertising so much that I think after the film, I'd like to get into advertising again for a year or so. Working on creative ideas just gives me this boost of energy and sitting and discussing it with like-minded individual's just gives me high."

Talking about his current movie he says, "The movie features newcomers. Since it is a dance, music kind of film, we all have to put in long hours of rehearsing and have been doing this for three months now."

He also enjoys playing all kinds of sports when he can't get on to the field, he also loves to play videogames.

surina.sayal@thebrandreporter.com

The Brand Reporter

hey frnds..this is siddharth who played the evil bobby..he is so charming and goodlooking..dunno why he always do negative roles...