impotency should be accepted LIKE HIV

Actor Sachin Sharma has done what would be considered professional hara kiri by most. He has dared to play the impotent scion, Aryavradhan Jaisingh, of an industrialist family in Aroona Irani's show 'Vaidehi' (Sony). Moreover, after playing the simple Krishna in 'Kahanii Ghar Ghar Ki' and a lover boy in 'Tumhari Disha', this is an outright negative role.

But Sachin says without apprehensions, "It's a great opportunity which I am grateful for. You don't get these roles often."

Based on a true life account of a middle-class girl conned into marrying an impotent tycoon, the show traces her trauma and fight.

Sachin had to prepare the ground to play this layered character. He says, "Aryavardhan has accepted his inadequacy and behaves very normally in public. He has a very stylish persona. The contact lenses were added to enhance the cold look."

Sachin feels strongly about blowing the lid off impotency. He says, "We should accept impotency as we have HIV. Unless you do not come out with it, there can be no cure."

He continues, "Impotency has different stages and its treatment depends on that. Misleading a woman into marriage is definitely wrong. But men suffering from it should not feel discarded either."

On his rapport with co-actor Pallavi Kulkarni, who plays 'Vaidehi', he says, "She is very comfortable to work with and has no airs. There should be a give and take between the actors where dialogues and expressions are concerned. She lends that to our scenes."

Quiz him about the appreciation he receives from female fans and Sachin says softly, "I turn shy and speechless when girls call me cute and handsome." Prod him to reveal what kind of a woman would he feel attracted to and he shoots, "I like a woman who values tradition yet is open-minded, someone who is close to her roots, a beauty with brains."

He adds, "If her values are sound, whether a woman wears saris or western outfits, she can never look cheap."