Article:I'm not jealous of Rajeev--Gaurav

Is it true that you are quitting Left Right Left? As of now, I am very much a part of LRL. But with the exit of an impor- tant character like Rajveer (Rajeev Khandel- wal), the creative team may have to give the story a new direction. It remains to be seen whether Abhimanyu fits into the changed scheme of things. Does that mean your work is over? No, don't get me wrong, I will continue as long as the role has substance. But if your role does end, it might have a negative bear- ing on the show Not necessarily If such a . scenario does arise, I am sure the creators will have something up their sleeve. In fact there is also talk that some new actors may be roped in. What about the drop in TRPs after Rajeev's exit? TRPs have been on the decline for quite some time now. It started with the one-month break dur- ing the cricket World Cup and we haven't recovered since then. You cannot blame it on Rajeev's exit. Ideally his character should have ended with the first sea- son itself. It has been alleged that LRL is getting a raw deal from the media? I think that's true. In fact some press reports have been motivated. Whenev- er one tries something dif- ferent, it's bound to get reactions. Unfortunately the reactions have been rather negative in our case. What's your personal take on LRL? LRL is not a regular run- of-the-mill kind of show. It's an honest attempt to address the crying demand for change. Is it true you were jealous of Rajeev? Not at all. Why should I be jealous of him? We get enough space to do our own thing. Both our characters are well sketched - strong and so different from each other that the whole scene gets charged up. Okay, so what's next? I am considering some projects, but I don't want to talk about them right now. What kind of projects interest you? I have always attempted to be different. You can see that in Dil Kya Chahta Hai, Nach Balliye 2 and LRL. I have always sought to go beyond the norm and that's tempted me to act in the South African stage and in Blood Diamond. How's it going with Narayani Shastri? It's going great guns. What went wrong with Ghoom (the spoof on Dhoom)? The producers had ini- tially wanted to telecast it on TV But some problems . cropped up and they took it to the theatres. Things didn't work out among the makers.