Posted:
Udaan came to me at an opportune time: awesome interview!!
Ronit Roy: The favourite actor of soap opera producer Ekta Kapoor
My popularity in the film industry has increased after the success of my recent film Udaan, Ronit Roy tells Madhur Tankha
Having won a film award and being showered with accolades for his performance in his last movie, television actor Ronit Roy is now seeking to straddle the contrasting worlds of cinema and television with equal finesse.
Ronit is without doubt the favourite actor of soap opera producer Ekta Kapoor and possibly the highest paid actor on the small screen. "My popularity in the film industry has increased after the success of my recent film Udaan. I never dreamt that my role would land me the Filmfare award. A product like Udaan could not have been completed by a singular effort. It needs combined team effort and that is what we did. All the actors gave their best."
After acting in over a dozen Hindi films with not much success, Ronit admits that Udaan has given him a second lease of life in the film industry. "The film came to me at an opportune time. While doing this film, I never allowed myself to get bogged down by the pressure to succeed. I just went to the sets and gave my best. I left it to the director to judge how well I had performed. If you take too much of pressure then it affects your work."
Actors are supposed to do multi-tasking but to perform each assignment with perfection is a difficult task. Ronit makes it a point to do one project at a time. "This enables me to give my 100 per cent."
On the second day of shooting for Udaan, Ronit had a premonition that the film had all the right ingredients to become a box-office hit.
"I even shared this thought with director Vikram Motwane while shooting in Jamshedpur. But never did I imagine that the film would go all the way to Cannes Film Festival. The unique selling point of the film was that it was shot in real locations. Jamshedpur is excruciatingly hot and shooting in an actual steel factory made the heat simply unbearable. But all this got the best out of us."
Among Ronit's upcoming projects includes a film by veteran film-maker Deepa Mehta.
He shot for a month for the film in Sri Lanka last December.
"Deepa approached me for the role and I agreed. It was an interesting experience shooting the film. Because of the confidentiality clause, I cannot reveal anything. But I enjoyed my time during the month-long stay in Sri Lanka. It is a picturesque island country; its small ports and cities are great places to spend a vacation."
The actor is also excited about hosting the fourth season of Kitchen Champions. The show is different compared to other cookery shows as it is hosted in a spontaneous manner. As everything is done extempore, it depends entirely on how I want to take the show forward. Of course, there are some punch lines and humour."
Describing himself as a creative person, Ronit derives great satisfaction whenever his director is happy with his efforts. "Whether it is a film or serial if my director is happy with my performance then it gives me the ultimate satisfaction as an artiste. While choosing a project, it is important to know who the director is. An actor can play a part brilliantly but ultimately it is the director who is the storyteller. If he or she fails to narrate the story in an interesting and intelligent way, then all your hard work would go waste."
On television, the actor is busy with Adaalat in which he is essaying a known and sophisticated lawyer K. D. Pathak who gets his clients out of tight situations.
"K. D. Pathak is in quest for truth. He is not a librarian who spends hours reading law books. Instead, he is modern day lawyer who browses the Internet to source his information. He relies on his common sense and knowledge."
Stating that more shades of Pathak's personality will be revealed in the future episodes, Ronit says the character will become more interesting.
"Well, my character is tongue-in-cheek; does not live in a one room tenement but drives a swanky Audi. Audience will get to see his girlfriend. The show is right now at an infant stage and there is world of possibility."
Instead of courtroom drama, the serial has other elements.
"Providing unbridled entertainment to viewers is our ultimate goal. Of course, the basis is law. We introduce lot of lateral thinking as we want viewers to understand law.
Shedding light on his equation with Ekta Kapoor, the actor says the latter reposes so much faith in him that when he expressed his desire to play Bhishma in her serial Kahaani Hamaaray Mahaabhaarat Ki she immediately gave the nod. "In fact on the last day of her serial Bandini, I was quite emotional because at the back of my mind I knew that our ten-year long association was coming to an end. It is not that I would not be working with Ekta anymore."
Strangely, Ronit also gets time to manage his security agency.
"In this day and age of technology it is not difficult to run a security agency. I derive inspiration from industrialists who are doing such commendable work in the country. When an industrialist like Ratan Tata can run aviation, produce tea and manage his other businesses then why can't I handle only a fraction of that!"
My popularity in the film industry has increased after the success of my recent film Udaan, Ronit Roy tells Madhur Tankha
Having won a film award and being showered with accolades for his performance in his last movie, television actor Ronit Roy is now seeking to straddle the contrasting worlds of cinema and television with equal finesse.
Ronit is without doubt the favourite actor of soap opera producer Ekta Kapoor and possibly the highest paid actor on the small screen. "My popularity in the film industry has increased after the success of my recent film Udaan. I never dreamt that my role would land me the Filmfare award. A product like Udaan could not have been completed by a singular effort. It needs combined team effort and that is what we did. All the actors gave their best."
After acting in over a dozen Hindi films with not much success, Ronit admits that Udaan has given him a second lease of life in the film industry. "The film came to me at an opportune time. While doing this film, I never allowed myself to get bogged down by the pressure to succeed. I just went to the sets and gave my best. I left it to the director to judge how well I had performed. If you take too much of pressure then it affects your work."
Actors are supposed to do multi-tasking but to perform each assignment with perfection is a difficult task. Ronit makes it a point to do one project at a time. "This enables me to give my 100 per cent."
On the second day of shooting for Udaan, Ronit had a premonition that the film had all the right ingredients to become a box-office hit.
"I even shared this thought with director Vikram Motwane while shooting in Jamshedpur. But never did I imagine that the film would go all the way to Cannes Film Festival. The unique selling point of the film was that it was shot in real locations. Jamshedpur is excruciatingly hot and shooting in an actual steel factory made the heat simply unbearable. But all this got the best out of us."
Among Ronit's upcoming projects includes a film by veteran film-maker Deepa Mehta.
He shot for a month for the film in Sri Lanka last December.
"Deepa approached me for the role and I agreed. It was an interesting experience shooting the film. Because of the confidentiality clause, I cannot reveal anything. But I enjoyed my time during the month-long stay in Sri Lanka. It is a picturesque island country; its small ports and cities are great places to spend a vacation."
The actor is also excited about hosting the fourth season of Kitchen Champions. The show is different compared to other cookery shows as it is hosted in a spontaneous manner. As everything is done extempore, it depends entirely on how I want to take the show forward. Of course, there are some punch lines and humour."
Describing himself as a creative person, Ronit derives great satisfaction whenever his director is happy with his efforts. "Whether it is a film or serial if my director is happy with my performance then it gives me the ultimate satisfaction as an artiste. While choosing a project, it is important to know who the director is. An actor can play a part brilliantly but ultimately it is the director who is the storyteller. If he or she fails to narrate the story in an interesting and intelligent way, then all your hard work would go waste."
On television, the actor is busy with Adaalat in which he is essaying a known and sophisticated lawyer K. D. Pathak who gets his clients out of tight situations.
"K. D. Pathak is in quest for truth. He is not a librarian who spends hours reading law books. Instead, he is modern day lawyer who browses the Internet to source his information. He relies on his common sense and knowledge."
Stating that more shades of Pathak's personality will be revealed in the future episodes, Ronit says the character will become more interesting.
"Well, my character is tongue-in-cheek; does not live in a one room tenement but drives a swanky Audi. Audience will get to see his girlfriend. The show is right now at an infant stage and there is world of possibility."
Instead of courtroom drama, the serial has other elements.
"Providing unbridled entertainment to viewers is our ultimate goal. Of course, the basis is law. We introduce lot of lateral thinking as we want viewers to understand law.
Shedding light on his equation with Ekta Kapoor, the actor says the latter reposes so much faith in him that when he expressed his desire to play Bhishma in her serial Kahaani Hamaaray Mahaabhaarat Ki she immediately gave the nod. "In fact on the last day of her serial Bandini, I was quite emotional because at the back of my mind I knew that our ten-year long association was coming to an end. It is not that I would not be working with Ekta anymore."
Strangely, Ronit also gets time to manage his security agency.
"In this day and age of technology it is not difficult to run a security agency. I derive inspiration from industrialists who are doing such commendable work in the country. When an industrialist like Ratan Tata can run aviation, produce tea and manage his other businesses then why can't I handle only a fraction of that!"
Hindi TV Shows
Kumkum Bhagya
Cricket
