Prodigal Son

Namita Nivas SACHIN SHARMA

Prodigal Son

Namita Nivas
Posted online: Friday, April 22, 2005 at 0000 hours IST

Janmashtami day in August 20, 2002. The day of Lord Krishna's janam, that year. And also the day when Krishna of Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki was born. Literally. It was on that day that Sachin Sharma was auditioned by Ektaa Kapoor for the role of Krishna, the son of the Agarwal khandaan. Today after a gradual acceptance, his character has gained immense popularity for the trauma and harships that he undergoes in his young life. Sachin, who has been living the life of Krishna for more than two years now, speaks about his role as Krishna as well as Vedant, his character in Tumhari Disha in a chat... Playing Krishna, at first, Sachin thought would be an easy task as he had to just portray the role of Kamal Agarwal's son. But as the serial progressed and gained momentum, the character developed and the role has been quite 'exhaustive' lately, he says. "That's right. Krishna had to undergo a lot of emotional crisis lately when his wife and family misunderstand him, beat him up and throw him out of the house. His interaction with Sasha was hated by all and sundry. Everyone thought how a nice boy like Krishna could pawn his wife in a game of cards. But now everything is back to normal in his life and I guess, all my fans are heaving a sigh of relief," laughs the youngster sitting cross-legged on a mattress spread out in his living room. The ambience is quite homely and comfortable for a guy living alone in Mumbai. Elaborating on his experiences about Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki, (KGGK) Sachin says he never thought his character would be loved so much. From the time he was narrated the script, his character has developed immensely, much to his favour. Though KGGK is his first assignment as a professional actor, it has done him good, he feels. He has matured as an actor very fast. Today, after the initial hiccup, he is quite happy with the way his character is shaping. Winking, he says, when he was narrated the script, there was no mention of his shaadi to Gunn and now he plays a married man to perfection at the age of 26. "I thank the actors, my co-stars, the writers and Ektaa for supporting and helping me otherwise the actor in me would not have been able to perform so well. Krishna has always been liked by all his fans. He always had their sympathy and they stood by him as they knew that he is a strong man and would never go against his family, come what may. Today I am grateful to them for accepting me in that role," quips the actor. Talking about his character in Tumhari Disha, Sachin says Vedant is totally different from Krishna. Unlike Krishna who seldom smiles, Vedant is always laughing and upto something naughty all the time. "Vedant is a happy-go-lucky guy and I am enjoying doing that role as I get to play more of myself. I am thankful to producer Rishi Talwar and writer Rupali Guha for working on my character. Whenever I enter the sets of Tumhari Disha, I am surrounded with voices that follow me with 'My, my, my', the lines that I use in the serial all the time. My friends from abroad, after watching Krishna being battered all the time, feel Vedant is a treat to the eye," laughs Sachin not before adding that he enjoys both the serials. "Though the characters are vastly different, I would say, they are the two faces of the same coin. And I am extremely excited playing them." Sachin is one of the few youngsters who are career-minded and are focussed about their goal in life. "That's true. I began my career very early in life. Having just cleared my 12 std, I got a job at Zee TV as the reporter and newsreader in Delhi. I was doing business, sports and weather reporting there. I also did a travel show called Dream Destination for them. After attending morning college, I would work from a 2 pm to 2 am shift at Zee. It was fun," he says adding that on August 20, 2002, on Janmashtami day, he reached Mumbai for the audition of Krishna and got selected. Though he had acted in school and college plays, it was then that he decided to take acting really seriously. But he was also adamant to complete his graduation which he did. He is presently doing his MBA (Specialisation in Finance) after which he intends to master in Journalism too, says the actor remembering that he was only 18 years when he received his first pay check. "And I took my dad for dinner. He was so overwhelmed when I paid for the dinner that he didn't sleep that night. It was a proud moment for him. As for me, I got to learn a lot at a very early age." But though his parents were supportive, he had to leave home quietly as they could not bear to be away from their only son. "I called my father from the railway station and informed him that I was boarding a train to Mumbai. Dad understood and gave me his blessings. Today my parents and sisters are proud of me," beams a proud son.

Coming back to KGGK, Sachin says the Agarwal family is an extention of his real family. "Mine is a joint family too with a lot of uncles, aunties, cousins and relatives. So I never felt out of place on the sets of KGGK. Like my family back home, my family in KGGK too has been very supportive and helpful. It is about two years since I shifted to Mumbai and now I am getting used to this place. There is special bonding amongst all of us though each one is very different from the other. Let me tell you a little about some of them. Tina Parekh who plays Shruti is a foodie and is always talking about nothing but food. Kiran Karmarkar who plays Om Agarwal is perpetually preaching like a saint as he is into pravachans and bhakti. So he is called as Kiranbaba by all of us. Gautam Chaturvedi (Gaurav chacha) is called churan because he has a solution to any problem on the earth. Thursday is the day when daadi (Lily Patel) treats the entire unit to chana-sing and all of us form a 'ration' queue in front of her for our share of nuts. It is absolute fun. Vandymaasi (Neelam Mehra) gets along well with everyone as she is always cracking jokes which are situational. Purva Gokhale who plays Krishna's wife Gunn is a nice, but reserved girl who is very obsessive about the Marathi language and its culture. If you have to irritate her, say something bad about Marathi and she flares up. Manasi Verma aka Monalika talks about fashion, fashion and more fashion. Sucheta (Shilpa chachi) Trivedi is a bubbly girl and the life of the unit," smiles the young actor.

Sachin remembers some of the things that happened while shooting which he would rather prefer to 'forget'. It was the scene when the Agarwal family learns that Krishna had pawned his newly wed wife Gunn in a game of cards and that Gunn had to spend the night with Sasha who wins the game. "Parvati who plays my badi maa had to slap me for the scene and then slap herself. We all sat and discussed how to do the scene. It was a round trolley shot and every slap was being recorded so she had to actually slap me to make it look realistic. Ultimately it was decided that the scene had to be done, come what may. Thus began the slapping session. And since we were not getting it right there were retakes after retakes till I was slapped about 150 times. And then I was beyond recognition. My face was swollen and there were nails marks and blood all over my face. We could not do the next scene as my face was blotted and both, Saakshi (Parvati) and I were emotionally drained. Such scenes dehydrates one. And to pacify one another, both of us bought chocolates for each other," says Sachin.

Another scene, he says, that was interesting was when Sasha and Krishna come face to face at the parking lot and end up in a fight. "Both of us were so careful not to hurt the other. But after a point, we were enjoying what we were doing so much that the watchers thought we were having a real fight. It was fun," he says. After that Chetan Hansraj who plays Sasha and Sachin became best buddies. Like every aspirant, Sachin too hopes to be seen on the big screen. "There is something cooking but it is too early to say anything as of now," He is hoping to play a negative role and wants to romance on screen. "TV doesn't allow love scenes," he says with a twinkle in his eye. Recently he was in the news for lending his vioce of Rakshak Sawheny, the earlier hero of Kkavyanjali. "It was fun as long as it lasted," he says. Music videos and ads are also welcome says the hero who was seen in the LG ad. The youngster is looking forward to a great future but has high regards for TV which has made him a household name.

Thanks for the info jingle.

jingle, thks for the article
sachin, hope to see you on big screen soon 😉