| | SMALL SCREEN DEBUT:
Rakesh Bapat in Saat Phere | Bollywood actor Rakesh Bapat (Tum Bin, Dil Vil Pyar Vyar, Kaun Hai Jo Sapno Main Aaya) makes his small screen debut in Sunjoy Waddhwa's daily, Saat Phere.
A Grasim Mr India (1999) title-holder, Bapat's film career has been a lukewarm affair. Is that why he is turning to the small screen? No godfather
"Not exactly," he says. "After winning Grasim Mr India, I thought of doing TV, but films came my way." He admits he had no godfather in the industry and did not market himself as most actors do.
"I didn't know the machinations of Bollywood, so things did not work out for me," says Bapat, who will next be seen in Dev Basu's film, Jadoo Sa Chal Gaya opposite, Meera Vasudevan. TV versus film
Even though Saat Phere has a huge cast, he feels each character's role is very well developed. Bapat plays the role of Neel, who falls for the protagonist Saloni (Rajshree Thakur), who battles with a string of prejudices against her. "Today's serials provide an actor with plenty of scope as there are several twists and turns in the drama. In films, you play the character throughout."
Bapat bagged Saat Phere courtesy the show's supervising producer, Nilu. "She told me it was great role and after I heard the script, I found it was a superb story. We have been shooting daily and director Swapna Joshi Waghmare has got the best out of me. She knows how to make each character feel important."
The actor does not feel that for television things are done on a small scale. "The whole show has a film-like feel to it. The producer has extended a lot of comfort level on the sets and I am looking forward to the show." shaheen@mid-day.com |
| What is Saat Phere?
This daily airs on Zee from October 17, at 9.30 pm. Produced by Sunjoy Waddhwa and written by Purnendu Shekhar and Rajesh Dubey, the cast includes Rakesh Bapat, Neena Gupta, Mohan Bhandari, Shweta Kawaatra, Akshay Anand, Sharad Kelkar and two new faces — Rajshree Thakur and Poonam Gulati.
It has Bollywood designer Shahid Aamir (for the first time on the small screen) styling all the characters in the show.
Saat Phere, which has a Rajasthani setting, is about the journey of Saloni (Rajshree), a dusky girl who overcomes colour prejudices to emerge successful. | |
