Gurmeet Choudhary interview
ACTOR Gurmeet Choudhary, who played Yash Sindhia in the Indian serial Married Again, on ZEE TV, said it was always his dream to become an actor. CANDICE SOOBRAMONEY chats to him ahead of his performance at the ICC on September 26.
GURMEET Choudhary, who was born in Chandigarh, comes from an army background.
His father, Sitaram, was in the army and as a result Gurmeet stayed in different parts in India.
He featured in many school plays, and went on to win the Mr Jabalpur title and compete in the Mr India contest.
At 19 he moved to Mumbai, where his dream of becoming an actor materialised – he made his debut with with the epic mythical series Ramayan, playing the lead role as Lord Raam.
He then starred in Geet Huyi Sabse Parayi and as Yash Sindihia in Punaah Vivah ( Married Again), garnering millions of adoring fans.
Speaking about his rise to fame, Gurmeet said he had always known he wanted to be an actor.
“But since I had nobody from films in my family, I was a bit lost. One day, I managed to meet Yash Chopra. It was he who guided me to do TV. I was 18 or 19 years old then and Yashji gave me the example of Shah Rukh Khan.
“He said, ‘ SRK se bada example kya hai’. He has come from TV. Why don’t you also do TV and make a name for yourself there first? That’s how I started doing serials,” said the 31-year-old actor.
“My break into mainstream acting, was with the television series Ramayan, where I played the lead.
“I starred opposite my now real life wife, Debina Bonnerjee, who played Sita. I was determined to approach every role that I did with earnestness and put in 200% effort.
“I worked on my look, body, body language, character. My motto was no matter how many shows I do, I should look different in every one of them. People should be able to identify which serial just by my look.
“Accordingly when I played Ram in the series Ramadan, I worked on my physique to make it a little bulky because he was a king.
“I grew my hair long, and as Ram is antaryami, one who knows what will happen in the future, he is always calm and composed. I worked on getting a serene smile, that was a part of Ram.
“For my role as Maan in Geet Huyi Sabse Parayi, I grew a stubble, and got a lean look. Maan was an arrogant business tycoon and my body language projected that.
“As Yash in Punar Vivah, I changed my looks again. Every serial I dealt with as though I was doing a film. That a producer or director may be watching the show was always at the back of my mind.”
Gurmeet said he had signed a three-film deal with Vishesh Films and made his debut in the film Khamoshiyan – Silences Have Secrets, an erotic supernatural love triangle, in January this year.
Asked if knew that he had a huge fan following in South Africa, he said: “South Africa is like home away from home for me. When I first performed in SA, I was surprised to learn that ZEE TV’s Punar Vivah is popular in Africa, and the character I play, Yash, is appreciated by young and older fans.” He said he had performed in the country many times. South Africa holds a special place in my heart as I won the Best Male Television Actor award here (SAIFTA awards), in Durban. It was my first international award. Fear Factor Season 5 was also filmed in Cape Town, where I was a runner-up.” He will arrive in Durban on Friday at 9pm. The event is being arranged by local show promoter Hermith Hardeo of BU Media. Tickets at Computicket and AA Video.