Rohit Roy the young hunk of Indian television who shot to fame with Swabhiman and Baat Bangje now caught on the big screen with Hum to Mohobat Karenga talks to NISHA CHAINANI about movies, television, acting and his dream of becoming the next Rusi Modi.

Q : What is such a successful television actor like you doing in Hum To Mohabat Karega?
R.R. : Well you know that Mr.Kundan Shah and the rest of the team must have worked really hard to make Hum To Mohabat Karega a good film, but I myself when I saw that film was really unhappy with the way it finally shaped up. It was nothing like what I had expected when I read the script and heard the narration. You put a little faith in the hands of well known, established directors and if they fail to deliver there is little you can do about it. As far as you're concerned you made all the right decisions you did what was expected from you in the capacity of an actor and that's it. I mean, even an Amitabh Bachchan or a Shah Rukh Khan can't save a bad film.

Q : This wasn't your first commercial Hindi film?
R.R. : No, I had done a few Hindi films for television. I did Anant Balani's Zazbat with Sucitra Krisnamurty Kapoor in 1995, it was released in 1996. I did Mr.Raj Sippy's Lalchi in 1996, released in 1997 with Pranji where I play his grandson, a film based on the English film Greedy. Then in August 1997 I did Hume Jaha Pyaar Mile for Zee. In 1998 I did Koyi Kishise Kam Nahi again with Mr.Raj Sippy, starring Prathibha Sinha, Milind Goneja and Ashish Vidyarti and finally Shakti Samantha's Anko Mein Tum Ho with Suman Ranganathan and Sharad Kapoor playing villian. Some of these films were good movies but they weren't well marketed, most people weren't even aware of these films, as a result they just came and went.

Q : How did you become an actor?
R.R. : Well I started my career in as an assistant. But my becoming an actor or having anything to do with the entertainment industry, as predictable as it sounds, all just happened! I had just finished my college, my mother and I were staying in Ahmedabad, my brother was working in Bombay and my father had passed away a few years prior, in 1996, succumbed to a heart attack. Anyway, in 1994 I had come to Bombay to sit for my MBA entrance exams and while I was awaiting my results, and whiling away my time, my brother who was working as an editor asked me to come with him. So like that I met Kunal Kapoor, son of Shashi Kapoor, who at the time when he met me was looking out for an assistant to work with him. So he asked me why don’t I join him and I did. There has been no looking back for me since my first job with Kunal.

Then one day someone saw me and wanted my pictures for an ad campaign. I didn’t have a portfolio, so the hotshot photographer Chin Win Lee who was sharing Kunal's office clicked a few photo's for me, and the next thing I knew, I was doing my very first modeling assignment, Vimal in 1995. Like that someone saw my pictures somewhere and one day I get a call from Mr.Raj Sippy's office with an offer to do a film, and the next thing I know is that I'm doing a movie! Like that Mr.Mahesh Bhatt sees my screen test and the next thing I know is that I'm playing a leading character in India's first television soap Swabhimaan! And it turned out to be a huge success.

Q : What did you want to become by profession?
R.R. : I wanted to be a businessman. I wanted to be a marketing whiz. My sole aim in life was to be Rusi Modi, a Ratan Tata and the likes. I wanted to sit in an air-conditioned office, drive around in a chauffeured car, sign checks and make money! My family wanted me to be an IAS Officer. But that's why I believe in destiny so much! It just takes you to wherever you're supposed to be! I mean, I never went to anyone and said to them, look, I want to be an actor and yet that's what I got drawn into becoming, purely by chance!

Q : You could have said no at all given points of your life to purse your dream of becoming a white collared professional?
R.R. : In theory yes I could have said no, gone ahead and done my MBA. But in practice I saw opportunity and I felt compelled to seize it. Everything in my life was happening in a flow and I was going along with it. In fact, a couple of time when I planned my career, nothing worked out for me. So I figure that good things and big things happen by accident and not by design!

Q : Your first experience of adulation?
R.R. : Is something I will never forget! I was shooting out of town, with Mr.Raj Sippy when a whole busload of students passed by and stopped. Then what seemed like more then a hundred students came running towards us shouting "Rashab, Rashab!" Mr.Sippy turns around looking everywhere wondering who they're calling and charging towards when I had to tell him, "Sir, my name is Rashab in Swabhimaan." Then he said why didn’t you tell me before that you're such a big star! After that they had to seal off the area for the rest of the shoot to prevent mobbing. But it's like that in smaller cities, not in Bombay.

My friend's back in Ahmedabad thinks it's such a big deal to be a celebrity, which is cool!

Q : Has Hum To Mohabat Karenga done anything for your film career?
R.R. : Though the film was a wash out, my performance got appreciated. Now that's something that's been happening a lot with me! My work gets appreciated but it's not converting itself into more work. In the end unless a film doesn't run you don’t run! But despite that I've gotten some 3 or 4 interesting small budget projects, my characters have lots of scope, so hopefully by August things will be more clear on that front.

Q : What's new on television?
R.R. : I'm doing two new serials, Tuje Pe Dil Kurban an army serial on Sony where I'm playing a lieutenant and Milan, which will be on air sometime in August. And I'm really excited about it because it's the greatest challenge of my acting career till now. In that I'm playing Salman of Hum Apke hai Kaun and Ajay Devgan of Hum Dil De Chukhe Sanam all rolled into one. It's a very interesting story and I'm really looking forward to it.

Q : And it seems that your celebrity status isn’t restricted to the screens, you made a few heads turn with your alleged relationship with a former Miss. Universe?
R.R. : Sushmita and I are just good friends! But seriously, I met Sushmita right after her homecoming, we did the Camay ad campaign together. After that we started hanging out and partying together for a while, and that's probably why people thought that something was going on between us. It was such a long time ago.

Q : This heartthrob is now married?

R.R. : That's correct. I'm married to a very lovely girl, her name is Mansi, she's a model and a very fine television actress.

Q : How did the two of you two meet?
R.R. : While I was working with Kunal. She came to shoot as the Close-Up model. We remained as friends after the shoot but not for long! We were married almost a year ago.

Q : What are your aspirations?
R.R. : Well, I hope I've achieved and I feel good to be where I am by the time I turn 50! One of my newest developed fears is the fear of anonymity! After having gotten a certain amount of fame and exposure it's a frightening thought of going back in to the dark hole of anonymity, I don’t know why it's like that but it is, so I hope that that never happens. Then I'm feeling very dissatisfied with what I'm doing. Nothing has really challenged me professionally since the past year or so. So I feel like my growth, as an actor is not happening. Though right now since the last four months I'm working on two exciting projects, Milan and Tuj Pe Dil Kurban. So I'm happy but I still feel like television has not come of age in India. Yes there is a boom, it is definitely an industry but as an actor you're always working with your back against the wall because quality is the last thing on the minds of the makers. Right now it's how much money you can make and how many corners you can cut in trying to save. In the not too far away future it's my ultimate aspiration to be a film person, I've always liked the magic of cinema, though I'm not running television down, it's given me a lot to feel grateful for but it does not fill my appetite.

Q : Both these pictures have you with a cigarette in them?
R.R. : I know! I have a fetish for cigarettes, I think it's so masculine to hold a cigarette in your hand! But I don’t smoke!