Being shy worked against me: Apurva Agnihotri
By Seema Sinha, TNN | Feb 6, 2013, 12.00 AM IST
Apurva Agnihotri on TV, films and the recent rave party controversy 
He started off as a film actor, shifted to the small screen later. However, Apurva Agnihotri has a new goal in life now β to don the director's hat
So, you want to direct a film now?
Yes, creating stuff excites me more than working on somebody else's
creation. I want to do things that I have control over. I want to make
the kind of cinema I believe in and have started taking baby steps
towards the goal. My father was a writer, so I guess it comes naturally.
Even when I was doing
Jassi Jaissi Koi Nahin, I would often go behind the camera.
Will you continue with television serials? As of now, yes. But out-of-the-box stuff doesn't come your way in television. Also, after 20 episodes or so, the grind starts.
Though you started your film career with a bang β with Subhash Ghai's Pardes β it never really took off after that... I was never media's blue-eyed boy. When Pardes happened, nobody was bothered about me. Everybody wrote about the girl ( Mahima Chaudhary),
and Shah Rukh Khan. Only after the film released, people noticed that
there was one more guy and I managed to grab some eyeballs. My second
film,
Pyaar Koi Khel Nahin (1999), again with Mahima, bombed. I
believe that the movie flopped because of me. I think I was atrocious
in that film, a total miscast. Also, being shy worked against me.
Is television as unpredictable as films? It isn't, but we have been doing regressive stuff. Though these shows get good TRPs, being a part of them is not a good feeling.
Aasman Se Aage
was a different show, but I don't know what went wrong with it. Movie
audience wants to see different films, but television audience is stuck
in the 80's and 90's. It has become a pattern β we try to do things
differently during the first 20 episodes and then return to saas-bahu
flavour.
You were recently in the news following the rave party raid by cops. It was just being at the wrong place at the wrong time. It was our misfortune. But my only grudge
is that I was made the face of the party for no reason. My wife Shilpa
(Saklani) and I were there only for 20 minutes. There were many celebrities, but only our names were splashed all over. It was a bit stressful.
But you guys were tested positive for drugs...
I have no explanation. There were about 91 people at the party and
according to reports, 87 were tested positive. I have never seen
something like this happen in my life. We have done no wrong. People
will believe what they have to, but I am not going out to convince
anybody.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/tv/Being-shy-worked-against-me-Apurva-Agnihotri
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