‘I’m married to my work’Anuj Saxena

'I'm married to my work'

A nuj Saxena is a man in a hurry. He's just back from the MipTV festival (a global trade fair of audio visual content) at Cannes where he interacted with foreign broadcasters and content producers. He has huge plans for his home production company Maverick Productions (a little bird tells us that he was in talks with Madhuri Dixit for a film though he says, "I neither confirm nor deny it"). Not to forget the fact that he's also an industrialist and runs Elder Pharmaceuticals which recently tied up with a popular film awards function. And of course he's an actor too and is part of Sony's new show Rish ton Ki Dor. As we speak to him, the enthusiasm is unmistakable in his voice even as we realise there are a thousand things that are playing on his mind. He says, "These are exciting times for my production house and I want to make the most of it. I was at the MipTv festival and I realised it's a big world out there watching India. There is a lot of scope of co-productions between us and them, there could be a give and take of Indian and foreign content — the exposure is tremendous." And so just in case he misses out on the action there, he's decided to restrict his work on the small screen. He's doing just one TV show.

Does this mean he wants to move away from the small screen? "Well, yes and no. I agreed to do the new show for Sony because I was getting to play a middle-class man who has three sisters. I have always played the rich man or a flamboyant character in my other shows like Kusum, Kumkum, Saara Akash etc but this was something different. But again, I have been doing TV for six years now and having really worked hard I think I have reached the pinnacle in television. It's now imperative that I do something more, beyond TV." While his big screen debut, the Sameer Malkan-produced Lips is still awaiting release, doesn't he think that looking for a career in films has not always worked for the biggest of TV stars? "Yes, but then this is a risk I'm willing to take. In the film industry, it doesn't matter how big a TV star you are because to them you are branded as a TV actor. Most of them have not even watched your work. They also feel that why should they spend crores of rupees on you when the audience can watch you free of cost in their living rooms? They don't take you seriously unless you are ready to give up TV for films. So this is the risk I'm willing to take because all said and done, films are larger than life." Anuj also believes that very few TV stars are able to shrug off their TV character image "whereas a film can give you your own identity. Luckily for me, I have always been known as Anuj Saxena and not by he name of any character I have played on TV." Ask him if being an actor was at the back of his mind and he laughs, "The only thing at the back of my mind was to become a doctor. I did become one but I also realised I wanted to become an actor, a businessman, own a production house, so on and so forth.I have become more focussed now." Anuj has produced a TV show called Khiladi No 1 for Zee Smile "though films are a different ball game. Finalising film scripts takes time… I want to do everything correctly and slowly." Finally, after his marriage to Ishmit Dadial ended on a bitter note, is he open to falling in love and marriage? "Why not? I'm very much single though there is no time to fall in love or socialise. I am seriously married to my work right now. But I firmly believe true love happens just once and it's already happened in my case. Tomorrow is another day."