It’s the TV show that made him a small-screen phenomenon. Starting July 3, Barun Sobti will return to prime-time weeknights (Monday to Friday, 8pm, STAR Plus) with the all-new third season of Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon?. A TRP topper for many years, the show was remade in different languages and beamed in as many as 51 countries! (See box)
A t2 chat with Mr Super Popular.
When we had met last August, you had said you had no idea whether Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon? would make a comeback. What was your first reaction when you were approached for the third season some months ago?
See, initially when I was approached for the show, it wasn’t meant to be the third season. I was very excited about this character when it came to me… I still am. Later, the channel decided to call it the third season of Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon? because this, again, is a romantic show. When they approached me, they had just started writing the show and it was tentatively titled as something else.
You had also mentioned that you felt the show had run its course. What changed?
I don’t really know whether doing a third season is good or not… honestly, it’s not my call either. That show had definitely run its course… this is a completely new show with new characters and an entire new story.
And yet your character is called Advay Singh Raizada… Arnav Singh Raizada being the character you played in the first two seasons!
The middle name and the surname, ya (smiles).
So what can you tell us about him? From the promo, he seems like a very dark character…
He’s very, very intense and that’s going to be a task, actually… to pull off such a character. I don’t know how I’m going to do it. But ya, this guy is a pretty dark character. What makes human beings bitter is if something wrong happens to them and they decide to live with it and not talk about it. This person doesn’t go by the norm, ‘Okay, bad things happen to everyone… let’s get on with it’. Advay’s taken things personally and he will be vocal about it. In that sense, he’s not like Arnav who normally kept quiet about things.
Would you call him an anti-hero?
(Pauses) I don’t think it would be wrong to call him an anti-hero. What is a hero and who is an anti-hero? You take soldiers of two different nations — for each other, they are the hero and the anti-hero. For every situation, what is right for someone may not be right for the other person. Advay doesn’t definitely fit into the conventional ideal of a hero.
You just said it won’t be easy to play him. How are you approaching the character?
For characters like these, you can workshop and read up a lot — at least a hardworking actor would do that — but when you get to the floor on the first day of shoot, it all depends on how everything comes together organically… how the other actors react to you when ‘Action’ is called. People can say, ‘I did this, I did that’, but acting is also a lot of teamwork. The director will give his inputs, the DoP will pitch in with something…. The evolution of a character needs time and that’s what’s happening right now. As far as prior preparation is concerned, I have read up a lot… I have prepared each scene in my head again and again.
What’s been the reaction from fans to the return of the show? Iss Pyaar… aired in 51 countries and you have crazy fans from all over the world!
I don’t know… I don’t go on social media much (laughs). These people on the channel have told me that the reactions have been phenomenal. I hope people like the show as much as they like the hype (smiles).
Your pairing with Sanaya Irani in the first two seasons was very popular. What do you have to say to fans reacting negatively to her being left out in this season?
The problem with the entertainment industry is that they always want to package things thinking it will be a hit or a flop, instead of doing it the way it should be done. People have to keep in mind that the casting is done according to the character and the story… you can’t take a Barun Sobti and fit him in every character. I was approached for the role not because our show was popular, but because the producers thought I would be able to do the role. Likewise, the female lead (Shivani Tomar) was cast. It’s a story that’s going to be told in absolute isolation from the first season, so ya, it’s on its own.
Since you’ve been away from the grind of a daily soap for quite a few years now, how much are you dreading working on a five-episodes-a-week show?
(Laughs) The schedules are definitely tough, but now even shooting for films and web series have become like that. Actually, the medium doesn’t decide the schedule… the norm of the industry is that if you are shooting, you shoot for 12 hours at a stretch. I did that day in and day out for a very long time and then couldn’t… so I took a break (smiles). Anyway, I am not big on shows that go on forever. One of the major reasons I signed this was because it’s a finite series.
You did a few films in the break you took from TV. Has acting in films helped hone your craft?
The medium doesn’t matter to me at all. But honestly, I have always thought that TV actors are far more seasoned, for the practical reason that they do this every day. The films or the web series I did all had different characters, but I would definitely believe there’s been an improvement in me as an actor with time and experience (smiles).
So what’s happening on the film front?
One of my films, Tu Hai Mera Sunday, will come out in the second half of the year. Then we are planning the release of 22 Yards (that he shot for in Calcutta in 2016) towards the end of 2017. The Calcutta bits are over and the first cut is also done.
Should this return to TV make fans hopeful they will see much more of you or will you do the disappearing act again?
(Laughs) I would love to keep doing television. I don’t know why there is this myth in India that these are two different industries. We work in the same city (Mumbai) and this is the entertainment industry as a whole. There may be one core group of the film industry, but that doesn’t mean another group doesn’t have the right to make a film. I would like to keep shuttling back and forth and in simple terms, I wouldn’t like to let go of anything good that comes my way.
THE SHOW
A love story with a Mills & Boon theme and template, Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon? told the story of a simple middle-class girl called Khushi (played by Sanaya Irani) and the rich and arrogant Arnav Singh Raizada (Barun Sobti) who start off on a sticky wicket, but eventually their animosity turns into attraction. Barun’s intense turn and Sanaya’s spunk made it memorable, spurring one more season, a few spin-offs and many remakes. Like? Read on...
♦ A Tamil adaptation called Idhu Kadhala, Chuppulu Kalisina Shubhavela in Telugu, Men Nazra Thanya in Arabic, Moi Tinh Ki La in Vietnamese and La Promesse in French, among others. On Bangla TV, Bojhena Se Bojhena, starring Yash Dasgupta as Aranya Singha Ray.
♦ Also, the show was dubbed into many languages. Its dubbed Turkish version broke all viewership records and quadrupled the channel’s ratings on which it was aired.
♦ It’s aired in Jamaica and Namibia where few Indian TV shows — or even Bollywood films — have reached.
Priyanka Roy
I am looking forward to Season 3 of IPKKND because.... Tell t2@abp.in
