'Its ok if people call me Sujal' - Rajeev

RAJEEV KHANDELWAL SAYS:
"It's okay if people still call me Sujal"

Rajeev Khandelwal may have left Kahiin To Hoga, but like the adage suggests, the show goes on. As does Khandelwal's own life. "Life is normal; nothing is particularly different," claims the actor who hit the big time playing Sujal on the Star Plus show. At the moment, he is looking forward to the premier of his second serial, a political and psychological thriller by Ketan Mehta called Time Bomb 9/11. It is a fictitious 24- hour account set around the events of that fateful day. Even though he is excited about his forthcoming serial; Khandelwal is not perturbed at being identified with the character – Sujal. "People still identify me with him but that can't be helped. After all, he was loved for two years; if people still call me Sujal, it is but natural," he suggests. Not a couch potato, Khandelwal claims he hasn't been watching the show's progress, or that of his replacement, Gurpreet Singh. "I haven't been watching Kahiin To Hoga but I am sure Gurpreet is doing a good job. I know him, and I'm sure he will take Sujal to even greater heights," he comments good naturedly. Despite his souring relationship with soap queen Ekta Kapoor, he hopes the show goes from strength to strength. In Time Bomb 9/11, Khandelwal plays Varun Awasthi, an intelligence officer who suspects an assassination attempt to be made on the prime minister, only to later realise that there is a larger, global design to create terror, at work. "I'm from an army background, so I didn't have to go out of the way to understand the character," he says. "Besides, with a director like Ketan Mehta I got a very good briefing and a lot of help," he adds. Having played the protagonist in both his television ventures so far, he isn't averse to stepping out of the spotlight. "I am open to experimentation, as long as the people I am working with have faith in me," he avers, "but there is nothing I have signed at present." He should