Vikas Bhalla's interview

Frankly speaking...

From film star to music man to television artiste has been a long trek for Vikas Bhalla! Ups and downs characterise his sojourn down Entertainment Boulevard. At the moment he is busy with television as well as a Hollywood… yes, a Hollywood film co-starring Salman Khan. And things never looked this good for Vikas! He speaks thus…

On playing Arjun in Shanno Ki Shaadi: "In Shanno Ki Shaadi I play Arjun, an NRI who flaunts flashy clothes and black goggles and comes to India. His mission: Bride hunting. He and his parents appoint a marriage broker for the mission. Shannu is a girl past her marriageable age. She works in a dhaba. Arjun falls in love with her parathas first and eventually with the one who cooks those parathas. The serial produced by UTV is loosely based on the Hollywood hit My Big Fat Greek Wedding."

On being quality conscious: "It is difficult to manage work in more serials. Shanno Ki Shaadi is the only TV serial in which I am acting at the moment because I have become very quality conscious. I can sign more serials but my quality of work will suffer if I start hopping from the sets of one serial to another. For that matter I do not want to take up work in a daily serial."

On the negative role in Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahin: Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahin was the only daily serial in which I had worked in recent times. I was fascinated by the character of C. J. Oberoi who starts off as a negative character in the typical filmi fashion. What I liked about my character is that it transforms from a negative to a positive one. I set out to frame Jassi because I feel that she is responsible for the death of my dear friend Purab (Sameer Soni). My character turns positive when he finds out the truth about Purab's death."

On being a superstar in Hollywood's Marigold: "I am gung ho about my role in the Hollywod project Marigold. Salman Khan is the leading man while I play Raj, an Indian superstar, who thinks he is God's gift to women. Willard Caroll is directing the film. The film abounds with funny sequences involving Salman and me. Salman plays a choreographer. I think Salman is in every way true Hollywood material. It has been quite a nice experience working with him. I feel he has the most mind-blowing sense of humour ever! He's a very chilled out dude. The best thing about Salman is that his stardom did not come in the way at all while he executed his scenes. Believe it or not, for a 9.00 o'clock shift he would arrive at 8.00 o'clock sharp. And, he used to travel all the way from Bandra to Madh Island."

On Salman recommending him for Marigold: "I frankly do not know what made the filmmakers select me for the part. Of course, I had auditioned for it and after two weeks I was told that I was on. I also do not know whether Salman Khan had a hand in casting me for it. He was very supportive on the sets."

On the role of Rajeev Khurana in Pyar Mein Twist: "The film may have come and gone but I am happy with the way my role shaped up. It's a pity that the film that was loosely based on the real life story of Camilla Parker and Prince Charles. It just didn't excite the audience."

On acting in the bilingual, Choodiyaan: "I'm quite excited about Choodiyaan. It is set against the backdrop of Punjab and is a Hindi-Punjabi bilingual dealing with the subject of three brothers. I play the character of Vikram Brar, the second son in the family. Gracy Singh plays the leading lady. Sukhwant Dhadda who is known even today for the brilliant manner in which he had directed Hema Malini and Rishi Kapoor almost two decades ago in Ek Chadar Maili Si is directing Choodiyaan."

On why he failed to click in films: "Looking back and analyzing what went wrong regarding my career in films, I realize that the credit in those days always went to the lead hero. Today the trend has changed. The focus is also on the other actors, besides the leading man. I'm happy that I'm back in front of the arc lights at a time when the entire attitude of the film industry is undergoing a sea change. I used the long gap to invent myself as an actor."

On the TV serials in which he has acted in: "The serials in which I have worked till date are Apne Paraye with which I had actually made my teleserial debut. Then there is Karishma The Miracle of Love, Anurag Basu's Meet, Aroona Irani's Tum Bin Jaaoon Kahan, Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahin and last but not the least Shannu Ki Shaadi which is the only serial of mine which is on the air now.