He may not be your regular good-looking beta material like Hiten Tejwani or even a suave Ansh Gujral (Akashdeep Saigal), but the new guy in tellydom - Manish Wadhwa - is here to stay because of his powerful histrionics. Wadhwa's portrayal of the antagonist Kaali in Koh-I-Noor is a character with many shades. While his steely blue eyes
send a chill down your spine, you can't help falling in love with the character for his humane demeanour. "I love playing Kaali. This is a character not even a thousand writers could have written," he says.
Manish began his acting career in theatre participating in various inter-collegiate competitions. He also won the Best Actor of the University award besides silver and gold medals for his acting skills. However, the big break happened when he played Jaya Bachchan's son in the stage production Ma Retire Hoti Hai, which travelled all over the world. This was followed by Dr Mukta, where he once again essayed the role of Jaya Bachchan's son. "I got a film offer from Subhash Ghai called Rahul in which I played the negative lead. Soon after I acted in a film called 2nd October which was followed by Shyam Benegal's The Forgotten Hero - Subhash Chandra Bose," he informs. Other than films and theatre, Manish has done episodic shows on TV from Kahani Jurm Ki, Star Plus's Krishna Arjun and DD serials.
Despite hailing from the theatre background, Manish is not doing any other plays, apart from Hum Le Gaye, Tum Reh Gaye with Javed Jaffery where he plays the negative lead again! Ask him why he's limiting himself only to negative roles and he adds, "I just need a good role, whether positive or negative. And, even though menacing, Kaali is a soft guy at heart and is only following instructions and doing his job. He cries before killing someone and he kills only if he's been cheated or lied to." Manish's blue lenses and long hair often reminds one of the other big bad guy on TV, Ansh Gujral of Kyunkii Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi on Star Plus. "But I am not aping Ansh Gujral. This was the look given to me and I donned it. There have been blue-eyed and long-haired guys in the past too, like Kabir Bedi and Nirmal Pandey. So, it's not like I have aped any character," he defends himself.
The actor has two films, Hope and Tujhko Pukare in his kitty and is open to exploring all the three media - theatre, films and TV. But," he adds, "I'm not banking on theatre much, as it has lesser visibility and the kind of plays I've been doing have big stars, so obviously, the tickets are priced at Rs 750 to 1,000, which automatically cuts the audience down even more." Other than these lucrative projects, the talented actor has "a couple of more things," which he refuses to divulge. Let's wait and watch.
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Ufff Yeh Love Hai Mushkil
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Bigg Boss 19
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