new article on gurmeet

Big cine stars like Amitabh Bachchan and Salman Khan regularly go over to the smaller medium, television. It keeps them busy between big flicks, and ensures visibility and steady incomes. So for a television artiste to shine in these times becomes an even greater challenge. Yet, the tube is sizzling with hotties, who come in, ahem, every shape and size. And, like the cine stars, our telly boys, too, are learning to straddle the twin constellations of tinsel town and soap operas. So here's a tube to them.

In a good space

He is co-anchor of the star-studded reality show Nach Baliye on Star Plus. He is also the lead in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's debut telly offering, Saraswatichandra. Life suddenly got big for Gautam Rode, 35, who, till recently, was seen in smaller shows like Baa, Bahoo Aur Baby.
"Yes, it's a good space I'm in," admits the erstwhile Delhiite, personally amazed at where he is now. "I hadn't planned any of this. I was a regular collegian at Bhagat Singh College, when I took up a few offers for commercials. It took me to Mumbai, where someone said, 'Your Hindi is good, why not dabble in television?' Well, it was a good deal to pay my rent while I was in Mumbai. See where it has taken me."
His role in Saraswatichandra has him terribly excited. The story is based on the Nutan-starrer of yore, though it is set very much in 2013. His dhoti look is sizzling hot, but "that's only because I'm performing the surya namaskar," he says.
Rode says he has no plans for the future. "I've learnt that life doesn't go on as planned, so I prefer not to think of the future," he says. "A high phase will come with a low one, that's the nature of life."

With the lord's blessings

A widower, still smitten by his deceased wife, is coerced by family and friends to marry again, for himself as well as his children. Biwi no. 2 is the battered survivor of a bad marriage. A typical Mills and Boon premise, heavily Indianised, that's Punar Vivaah for you. It's a role into which the brooding six-footer Gurmeet Choudhary fits easily.
But then, as his fan following will assert, Gurmeet slips into every character as if it's tailor-made for him. He was Ram in a recent version of the Ramayana, and ended up marrying his onscreen Sita, Debina Bonnerjee, two years ago. From that he moved onto a serial called Geet'Hui Sabse Parayi, in which he played the angry young man. His decent dancing skills also helped him clinch the trophy in the last season of Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa.
Gurmeet, 28, is himself overwhelmed by his success. "It's the blessings of Shri Ram," he says. "Ramayana was a big break for me five years ago. People would even send me money as offerings to the lord. Many well-wishers feared I'd be typecast. I, however, knew I'd be able to break the mould."
When he was in class 2, Gurmeet had dreamt of being a film star. "I think I am very close to that dream today," he says, shyly. "After Jhalak..., there have been some offers. But I am in a successful serial now and am enjoying it, too. There will be a time I will move on." Do we see another Shah Rukh Khanesque journey in the offing?

Comfortably divine

"Gods don't speak [to mortals]," we were first told when we tried to contact Mohit Raina, who plays Shiva on the show Devon Ke Dev'Mahadev. We persevered and god finally heard our prayers, agreeing to talk, though only on a few subjects.
Life OK channel is doing all it can to ensure that the star of its leading show remains distant and divine. He's Arun Govil and Nitish Bhardwaj rolled into one, and more. He's even got Bollywood superstar Priyanka Chopra's aunt herself to reportedly say that she'd like to see her niece hitched to this telly Shiva.
"Today's generation wants to learn more about its gods, and this show is doing it in a way they can understand," explains the 30-year-old from Jammu, attributing his success to the powerful character he plays. "I recently got a call from a grandfather in Pune, thanking me for getting his family together every evening at 8 p.m. All three generations of his household watch the show together."
He wears his divinity comfortably, saying a lot of Mahadev's personality has rubbed off onto him, too. But he is sure that this role will not overcome his ability to get other, contemporary ones later.
Some good news for his female fans: despite the aspirations of Piggychops' aunt, our Mahadev says that there is no Sati or Parvati in his life, yet.

People-friendly moderator

His tryst with the entertainment industry started way back in 1998 as a news correspondent. But it was Vijay TV's Neeya Naana (You or Me), a popular debate cum talk show, that gave Gopinath Chandran a big platform. His latest show En Desam En Makkal (My country, My people) has already created a stir in a matter of a few weeks.
For the people of Tamil Nadu, Gopi is more than a media personality. He discusses people's issues at length by stepping into the shoes of a common man. Neeya Naana is the only show that, even after seven full years, continues to run popular among the people of the state. "The approach, attitude, grammar and the presentation of Neeya Naana are completely different," says Gopi. "It is a new show every week."
Coming from a nondescript town called Arathangi in south Tamil Nadu, he moved to Chennai after graduation in the hope of doing MBA from an institute of repute. "But I changed my mind and decided to join Raj TV as a journalist," he says. He went on to report for many major news channels and hosted political analysis shows.
Apart from being a show host and a debate moderator, Gopi has written several books, like Please Intha Puthagathai Vaangatheenga (Please Do Not Buy This Book), which has sold over three lakh copies.

All for a new look

Spontaneity is this anchor-turned-actor's USP. "I stay alert," says Manish Paul, who was last seen hosting Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa. "Although the writers help with a script on the teleprompter, I improvise." A natural talent for mimicking is very handy, too.
Like most of his peers, Paul is in the industry by chance. The son of a chartered accountant and the brother of an investor, Paul was very clear about what he didn't want to do, though not as sure of what he wanted to do. Television happened in 2001, and though it took some years for him to be an instantly recognisable face, he found his feet with Dance India Dance Li'l Masters. Anchoring came naturally to him, and just as he was honing his skills here came two films'Tere Bin Laden 2, to release this month, and Mickey Virus, in which he plays the lead.
Paul usually plays himself, so with his films, he is pushing the envelope. "I never thought I would have six-packs some day, but, yes, I am changing my look for the film," he says.
Where does he see himself a few years down the line? Straddling television and cinema, or focusing on one particular medium alone? "I don't know all that. All I know is where I'll find myself after half an hour'the gym," he says.

Logjam over Ram

An avid follower of Bade Achhe Lagte Hain recently committed a terrible blooper. She addressed her husband as "Mr Kapoor", the name by which protagonist Ram Kapoor is addressed by his wife on the show. The husband wasn't too impressed with his new name, revealed the viewer on the web site www.ramkapoorrocks.com. The site was created by his fans, but he endorses it, writing a weekly blog and bonding with smitten women and occasional male followers, too.
There is a certain je ne sais quoi about Ram Kapoor, 39, for sure. Why else would even educated women, from the age of 16 to 60 and beyond, go into a tizzy every time Mr Kapoor touches his co-star Sakshi Tanwar? He's got over 40,000 followers on Twitter, with whom he bonds personally, sharing nuggets of his life. Lata Mangeshkar is a fan, too.
Earlier, when there was a track change on the show that wasn't to their liking, Kapoor's fans' hectic online activity created a logjam on the Sony TV web site. Sneha Rajani, senior executive vice-president of the channel, finally tweeted to Kapoor for help. He was obliged to write on his fan web site much ahead of the scheduled blog to calm them.
Kapoor is a smart cookie and, unlike previously adulated stars like Amar Upadhyay and Rajeev Khandelwal, who were lured into cinema but finally fizzled away in both mediums, he dabbles with cinema cautiously, never letting it overshadow his tele-appeal.
With Lakshmi Subramanian