Angad Hansija was nominated in the Best Actor's category for the New Talent Awards – felicitating the latest entrants in the Television industry. Running neck to neck in competition with Karan Hukku, Jay Bhanushali, Vikrant Massey and Prashant Chawla, the industry grapevine was pretty sure that as Alekh Rajvansh in Star Plus's Sapna Babul Ka... Bidaai, Angad would walk away with the award. His co-stars had already started working out the celebration details – bringing in the best champagne to celebrate the actor's first award in the long list yet to come his way. Of course, there was always competition with Ekta's blue-eyed boys, but Angad had stacked his cards on solid ground. The only show, which was running neck to neck in competition with Ekta Kapoor's 'K' sagas, it was generating great TRP's – so much so that even Ekta felt the tremors and is trying every trick up her sleeve to generate the TRP's along the lines of Bidaai.
Yes, the nomination took Angad by surprise. For the latest entrant in the booming television industry, being pegged against the giants was a feather in his cap. But, he barely had a chance to sit back and let the nomination fever sink in because he was performing a sexy salsa number with his co-star Sara Khan for the awards night. A fantastic dancer and a perfectionist, both Sara and he were perfecting the steps all through last week for the awards night. And post the performance, he joined his coterie to watch the battle unleash.
And with bated breath when the host announced the nomination for the best actor's award for the year 2008, Angad was all set to run up to the stage and pick up his award, when he felt his world come crashing down with Karan Hukku's name announced. Disbelief was the first reaction that was mirrored, but when we caught up with the actor for an exclusive, he said, "And here I thought I could bore my fans with my Oscar special speech that I had in my pocket!" But he said, that night was truly fantastic, because though, he didn't walk away with the award, the post award bash was what caught him unwares.
Because in the midst of the entire television fraternity, producer of the show, Ranjan Shahi, who walked away with the Best Producer's award – handed the trophy to Angad. Talking to the magnanimous producer, Ranjan said, "Angad truly deserves it. The role that he portrays is truly worth walking away with an award. Playing a chocolate hero is not what acting is all about. Being a newcomer, he rose to the challenge of playing the role of Alekh and has been nominated for the same. In my book, that makes him a winner. Yes, it's true that I gave him my first award. But, please don't use words like magnanimous. I gave the award to Angad because that boy truly deserved it. Anybody can produce a show, but not everybody can play the role of Alekh. I told him when he gets his due; he could return the award back to me."
An emotional Angad was touched by his producer's showcase. He says, "There's a burning desire to prove my worth. I felt happy being merely nominated, but with Ranjan's action, there is a need to prove my worth." And going by the industry grapevine, this is the reason why the show is doing extremely well.
CID
