Karan Patel New Interview TOI

Many telly and Bollywood stints later, which includes a TV soap Kasturi, two movies (City of Gold and Shootout At Wadala), actor Karan Patel once again made himself comfortable on TV. An ebullient and straight forward Karan is looking forward to the best phase of his life that includes his singlehood, his newly launched TV outing Ye Hai Mohabbatein. Stubbing the ciggy and rolling up the sleeves of his black shirt, Karan opens up to TOI on his focus on entertainment, the need for a balanced view in life and more. Excerpts:

TV actors' relationship status gets lot of curious eyeballs these days. What's yours? I am single. The best phase of my life should start now, ideally. I am known to wear my heart on my sleeves. I tend to get in and out of a relationship till I decide to settle down. That's how I am and I make no bones about it. I always try to balance life by thinking failure of any kind, be it relationship, or any project should not affect me as an individual.

What gives you a high in life? My sense of humor! I am blessed with a funny gene that makes me enjoy life. Humor makes shootingfun. I enjoy playing pranks on people too. I won't say I am a narcissist, but I do keep a reality check, by looking at the mirror to know whether I am looking good. The day I won't look good, the camera and the people won't like me. Playing a divorcee and a single dad in a show is always a challenge when you are still single in real life " these kind of roles definitely give me a high.

Did you always want to be an actor? Honestly speaking, I was never this bright guy who chanced upon acting, I was always interested in taking up acting as a career and here I am. My role model has been Shah Rukh Khan. There is something or the other for one to learn from his career. Today, people can become successful in any profession without a godfather and anyone's backing.

How did you mould yourself for a show that's been adapted from a novel? When a TV show is adapted from a novel, it's essential to do your homework as an actor. Reading the novel, in this case, is very important to understand a particular character because it's the basic underline which you can't ignore. So, I did that first, read (Manju Kapur's) Custody and was fascinated by the character sketch.

You've been doing films as well. With your current TV project in hand, how do you intend to strike a balance? I believe in giving 100 percent commitment to all the genres ofentertainment which I take up. The rest depends on the role, one can't take liberties there. I am focused on entertainment. I want to be more successful and famous. I'd consider myself successful, the day I no longer have to introduce myself as 'hi, I am Karan Patel'.

An actor's success comes with a lot of responsibility. Yes, you become a public figure once you are an actor, which makes you take some conscious decisions on how you project yourself outside. But it doesn't mean that you stop living life according to your choice. Honestly, I can't compromise with my fun time. I would like to go out, party with my friends, spend some me moments. For example, I can't stop smoking. I wanted to get rid of this habit, but could not do it. It does not mean that I advocate smoking, because I am an actor who smokes. I would say, no one should smoke.