I'm a Casanova: Ashmit Patel

The first thing you notice about actor Ashmit Patel is his constant sheepish grin, which makes you wonder what he is up to at all times. The actor, who is soon to turn entrepreneur, was in a rather candid mode when he was in the city recently. We tried to make the most of it, of course.

Talking about his current reality show Super Stud, Ashmit says, "It was my popularity after winning Bigg Boss that made the makers choose me. It is a fun show. I always tell the participants, while you're being charming and having your share of fun, it is important to respect a woman. You're not a man if you don't respect a woman."

Quiz him if his Casanova image has also been instrumental in getting him the show, and he admits, "Yes, I am a Casanova. If you look up the dictionary, nowhere does it say that a Casanova is disrespectful of women. He's a charmer, who respects the sentiments of women and treats them well. I'd say that applies to me."

He adds, "If you look at my stint in Bigg Boss, be it Shweta (Tiwari), Sara (Khan), Aanchal (Kumar) or Veena (Malik), they all were close to me because I respected them. No one in the house, not the seven-footer nor anyone else could stand up against the injustice against these women. I did. If people later complained that these women pampered me and gave me preferential treatment, am I to be blamed?"

Ashmit admits he's taken the relationship with two of the women from the Bigg Boss house to another level. "I'm going to be partnering with Pamela Anderson in her venture Waves for Waters, which aims at filtering drinking water for the needy. I will be in charge of the business in India, while Veena will be doing the same in Pakistan," he reveals. As for Veena, he says, "She's someone who's very special. The show exaggerated a lot on our relationship."

Ashmit will also be venturing into television, where he's been conceptualising a fiction-based show revolving around Bollywood.

"I'm currently working out the deal with a television channel. I cannot reveal much on the show, except that it will revolutionise the television industry," he says. Prod him further and he says, "It will involve my friends from the film and television industries, each of them will be part of an episode."

Ashmit, who's currently working on one Hindi and one Bengali film, also has a couple of biopics up his alley. "There's one on Sher Singh Rana, the man who shot Phoolan Devi and a couple of others. I will be finalising on these projects very soon," says Ashmit. Will he act in a television serial, we ask, and he replies instantly, "I'm not the saas-bahu type, nor am I cut out for it."