Read it couple of days ago. Here is the news article of MK.
A sixty episode treat
DC | Subhash K. Jha | November 30, 2014, 03.11 am IST
The upcoming serial
Maha Kumbh is the most expensive serial to be made and Gautam Rode is
all geared up for the biggest challenge of his career. The actor plunges
into a passionate description of his character. "I play a man named
Rudra. He is mysterious, enigmatic, aggressive and secretive. He lives
in a shamshan ghat. Maha Kumbh is the story of Rudra's journey."
And
the epic scale of presentation is unique to Indian television. "The
serial will take me all over the world. We've already shot in Poland,
Allahabad and Varanasi. We will soon head for different parts of
Europe."
And unlike the usual soaps
on TV, Maha Kumbh has a finite lifespan. Says Gautam. "We're doing two
seasons of 60 episodes each. We've already shot 20 episodes. From what I
see, this series is unlike anything on Indian television. I think it'll
prove to be a gamechanger." The initial episodes were shot by Arvind
Babbal, whom Gautam holds in the highest esteem. "He shot the initial
parts of my Saraswatichandra.
According
to me he's among the best talents I've worked with. The work that I've
seen him do is outstanding. We don't look at Maha Kumbh as just another
serial and we would like viewers to see what we see. We haven't had a
gamechanger on Indian television for a very long time. We hope this one
will make a difference to the way audiences look at the home viewing
medium."
Maha Kumbh replaces another
gamechanger, Devon Ke Dev Mahadev, on the Life OK channel. The
mythological serial had made Mohit Raina a household name and Gautam
acknowledges the responsibility being thrust on him. But he says he is
not in competition with any serial. "Maha Kumbh is not competing with
anything for the simple reason that it doesn't have any parallels on
television. I am grateful to Star for giving me an opportunity like this
so soon after Saraswatichandra."
Gautam
began shooting for Maha Kumbh just days after Saraswatichandra went off
air. "And it was a 360-degree turn for my performing abilities. I feel
blessed to have two such contrasting roles one after another. Maha Kumbh
blends elements from Hindu mythology with an international espionage
thriller. Nothing like it has ever been attempted on Indian television."
Gautam
also feels that television should stop being seen as a stepping-stone
to cinema. "Everyone who comes to the entertainment industry wants to be
a film actor. Who wants to be a television actor by choice? I want to
change the perception of Indian television as being the poor man's
medium. When I hear people tell me, Television kiya, kya ukhad liya?' I
feel like telling them to please come and try doing the work we do on
television, the unearthly hours we put in. There is no time for anything
else."
Gautam, who doesn't even have
time for finding a ladylove, says, "I am single. And my mother is
worried. Like every mother she wants me to get married. But so far I've
been relieved to be single. Now when I'm in my 30s I feel I can't wait
for the workload to slow down. Instead I need to find someone who will
accompany me in my professional journey."
Gautam
sports a cool tattoo and a muscled look to play Rudra, something his
lady fans will love. He adds, "I am grateful to the ladies for their
attention. My styling, clothes, tattoos everything on Maha Kumbh has
been done after a lot of thought."
So,
does Gautam get to romance a girl as pretty as Jennifer Winget, his
co-star from Saraswatichandra? "There isn't that much of a romantic
angle in Maha Kumbh as there was in Saraswatichandra. My immediate
co-star is the very wonderful Seema Biswas who plays my foster-mother."
Gautam was wrongly quoted as saying he didn't get along with Winget. "I
never said that. Our work methods were different. But on a personal
level we are friends. In fact I am in touch with her in London where she
is shooting for her first feature film."
http://www.deccanchronicle.com/141130/commentary-sunday-chronicle/article/sixty-episode-treat
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