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Rajeev Khandelwal (TOI photo) More pics

There are some actors who never follow the trodden path.


Maybe that's why they're looked upon as risk-takers. Rajeev Khandelwal, who's quit TV shows at the peak of their popularity, is one of them. Taking the 'risky' business further, the actor will be seen making his Bollywood debut, but not as a romantic hero running around trees, instead as a Muslim protagonist who gets caught in an unlikely situation in Aamir.
"If you look at it from hindsight, it looks like I never played safe," agrees Rajeev, "But I never had a blueprint of my career. I only knew that as long as I'm comfortable with my instincts and heart, I would do that. In the end, what am I going to lose? The wealth I've accumulated? The little comforts that I have? If I'm capable, I'll make all that money in one go." For Rajeev, playing safe is no alternative. "I would hate to play safe because that's the riskiest thing to do," explains the good-looking actor.

No wonder, then, that he went for a first time director Rajkumar Gupta (Anurag Kashyap's prodigy) and a not so 'happy' subject like terrorism for his first film, to the ultimate downer for a Rajeev fan no heroine! "I deally I would have loved to do a romantic role and take the image further, but the best things are the ones you're not aware of. That's what happened with Aamir. When the script was sent to me, I realised how shortsighted I was I could not think that a film like this could have been made. I had read plenty of scripts, never did I feel I want to be a part of them. For the first time, I felt I should be a part of this film," he says.

But after watching him romance the beautiful Aamna Sharif in Kahin Toh Hoga, how does he expect the audience to accept him in an unromantic role? "If people accept me with the unexpected stuff that I dish out, life would be easier for me later on," he says simply. As for no heroine being cast opposite him, he's just relieved. "No controversies!" he laughs, "There's no woman on the sets so you can't link me with anyone." What's the final word on him and Aamna then?

"I have been linked with all three women I worked with. But the link with Aamna remained because she was the only one I romanced on-screen. Aamna is a good friend. If I have a woman in my life, I would love to scream out her name and make her feel special," he says. But it's destiny that Aamna and he are making their Bollywood debuts around the same time and have been offered films together, too. "But we're still waiting for the right kind of script that would do justice to our pairing. I don't want to waste the popularity bestowed on us on anything frivolous," he adds, not willing to take any risk here!