Good-looking TV dude, Shardul Pandit is having a good time, for after hosting (BCL), he is now back to acting. He has just entered &TV show, SiddhiVinayak.
“Shivam comes between the leads; he has a past with Siddhi (Farnaz Shetty). Expect lots of emotional drama. Will he take her away from Vinayak (Nitin Goswami)? The romantic angle is understated for now.”
He had earlier done Bandini, before moving to Dubai to pursue radio jockeying.
Have you broken the ice with your co-stars?
“I have known Farnaz before, but met Nitin for the first time. For the moment, most of my scenes are with him. In a short time, we have become good friends; the equation between two guys is always different. Normally, it is said, a hero gets uncomfortable when another strong male character is introduced, but luckily, no such ego hang-ups here.”
This is Shardul’s second show with &TV. He was earlier part of Kuldeepak as well. “I am glad to work with them again.”
When asked to choose between acting and anchoring (radio and TV), he says, “It is tough to choose, as I love both; but yes, anchoring is closer to my heart, for there, I can go beyond the script and do my own stuff, while in TV, we are helped by others i.e makeup, sound, costume, dialogues, etc. Having said this, I want to continue doing both.”
Asked about doing a lead role, and he quips, “I have already done one, and today, there is no such thing as lead. My first teacher, Ronit Roy, was not the lead in Kasauti Zindagi Ki, but he became the leading man by virtue of his performance. Here as well, my character is equally important; plus I am getting the money I asked for. We should not run after the lead but a strong character, e.g. in Sanjay Dutt’s biopic Sanju, Anushka Sharma is not the lead, yet she plays an important role in the narrative.”
Shardul was first noticed when he won Zee Cine Star ki Khoj, along with Divyanka Tripathi.
He is also game for web, “for it offers us an opportunity to go beyond TV, which is good. I accept that, unfortunately, web content is full of s*x and sleaze, but that is also partly the responsibility of the audience, as they seem to lap it up. The same thumb rule can also be applied to explain TV’s less-than- intelligent content as well.”
Best of luck, Shardul!!
