Vivan's passion is cars

Vivan Bathena zooms on to the sets of Zee TV's Maayka, making a cool entry in a shiny red convertible. He plays Shabd Sareen, a rich, young photographer with loads of attitude. Shabd is the new man in Maahi's life, and he's here to stay. "My character is an NRI who's lived and studied abroad, so he gets his values from there, and now he's in a rural environment like Punjab. Shabd is quite successful in the photography business and he's used to women falling all over him. But Maahi is not interested in him. This mysterious, dark quality about her intrigues him and what begins as a modelling assignment turns into love," Vivan reveals.

How did he bag this role? "They'd seen my work as Dhruv in Kumkum and called me for an audition two months ago. Two weeks back I was called for more tests and I landed the role," he says. Shabd's intro scene was inspired by Vivan's real-life passion for cars. He owns a Toyota MR2, while his on-screen character vrooms around in a Toyota Celica convertible.

"Dad's side of the family was always into bikes and car racing, so I grew up in that environment. They were always fiddling around, tinkering with something or the other. It's quite an expensive hobby but now finally I can afford to invest in a sports car of my own. It's a lot of fun, playing around in my car," says Vivan, "It's a dream come true."