‘If I do TV now, it will be a weekly or biweekly show’: Ronit Roy

Hailed as the superstar of television, Ronit Roy gained stardom as the handsome business tycoon, Mr Bajaj, in Kasautii Zindagii Kay. A  decade later when the serial got a reboot with a fresh cast, there was speculation that the good-looking actor would reprise his role in Part 2! However, the 53-year-old tells us why he is only doing cameos on the small screen, and focussing on the digital arena. 

You have reduced your outings on TV and are seen more on the OTT platform now. What is the reason?

I did my first web series Kehne Ko Humsafar Hai last year. Now, it’s Hostages and next will be Moguls for Nikkhil Advani. My focus is on doing well whatever I have, rather than just filling my diary (with work). Web is a space where there is no censorship and it caters to a wider demographic. 

It is not yet a star-ruled system, hence you see a lot of talent from across cinema and TV on the platform. They lead the cast and have been accepted. Different people — from classes to masses — are consuming different things, that’s the reason people are experimenting with content on the web space. Having said that, a medium can do something different only when it is allowed to do so. It’s not that people haven’t tried it on TV, but it’s not been accepted. The audience somehow wants to watch what they have been watching and television has been catering to that audience. Right now, I am doing a cameo in the serial Shakti — Astitva Ek Ehsaas Ki. If I have to do a full-fledged TV programme again, it would probably be something like Adalat, a courtroom drama or a detective series, which would be a weekly or bi-weekly.

Why aren’t the makers bringing back Adalat which was so popular?

That is a question best posed to them. It had an audience and it did well, so it is beyond my understanding why they are not bringing it back. But I am in talks with Sameer Nair (media and business professional) to develop a courtroom drama or a crime-based show, which might be for the web or premiere on TV, and then be aired on the digital platform.

What prompted you to do Hostages?

I had seen the original, and found it to be a well-executed show. It has a lot of characters, twists and turns. But it was made for Israel and the culture there is different from that of ours. Kids there go for army training after school and post that are on call whenever they are needed. But since we don’t have that concept here, we had to take a step away from the original series. The writers incorporated changes for the audience here, but the story, premise and the format is the same. I play Prithvi Singh, an honest upright police officer, who is dealing with a  hostage situation, when he gets called for another one. How he gets involved in the situation and what happens is a part of the story.

Did you have to do any special prep for the role?

I have played a cop before and I had done research about what it entails to be a police officer. In the series, I play a hard cop who has a vulnerable side to him. The actor who played my role in the original is much younger to me and is naturally soft looking with brown hair and baby blue eyes. I don’t look soft, so I had to bring that out in my performance. For that, I took support from the writing. Besides that, what was gruelling was the shoot. We shot in Delhi where the temperature was 48 degree celsius, we got caught in a dust storm in Gurgaon, which was a first for me. We shot in the jungle, too. And, though we shot inside a house, it was so hot and we had to wear masks. It was a challenge for every actor there because we had to speak through our eyes. It was one of the most difficult shoots for me. 

Ronit Roy

Now that you have got a good response, you must be happy.

Yes, the kind of response I have got for Hostages is akin to Udaan, Ugly and Two States, both from the viewers and people from the industry. While Jackie (Shroff), Abhishek (Bachchan) and Shilpa (Shetty Kundra) have tweeted about it, others have called and congratulated me. But since they owe allegiance to different platforms, I don’t want to name them.

You made a comeback to films with Udaan (2010), but after a spate of big releases, there seems to be a lull in the number of movies you are doing...

There has been no lull, it’s just that I am looking for slightly more meaningful roles. I have been getting a lot of offers, but it’s either that of a villain or a girl’s father in a love story. But in my next, Shamshera, I am doing something different. Whatever I do has to be challenging. I will also be acting in a Tamil film soon.

There was talk of you being offered the role of Mr Bajaj in the Kasautii Zindagii Kay reboot. 

I am thankful I’m still in demand, but I have never been offered that role. In fact, I haven’t even been contacted! It’s been 15 years since I played that role — from 2002 to 2010. It was a story of a few people and now some others are doing it. It’s similar to what occurred then, but I cannot appear from one lifetime to another!