I must have said ‘no’ to 50 roles in the last two years: Kiran Karmarkar

Kiran Karmarkar is one of the finest actors in the television industry. He can play a positive role of Om in Kahaani Ghar Ghar Kii with an equal amount of ease as he can enact the cunning Tej Singh Bundela in Uttaran.

And this time, the actor is back on-screen in a new avatar in Zee TV’s Badalte Rishton Ki Dastaan (Ravi Ojha Productions) in which he will be seen as a selfish yet sophisticated man.

In a conversation with us, Karmarkar talks about his journey in the industry and more…

On bagging Dastaan, he says, “Mittali Bhattacharya (Producer of Dastaan) is associated with Uttaran as a writer and since, I was a part of the show, she offered me Dastaan. I loved the character immediately. There have been times when I have been offered roles that would just have me hold the mala in my hand like a devotee (Havan) but I did not take them up. I knew that it was the lead role but I did not know what I would do after some days. I knew that I would get bored after a few days as that wasn’t going to come to me naturally.”

“I was also offered Mahadev but I did not take it too. This was not because I did not want to be a part of a costume drama, but because after three to four days, I wouldn’t know what to do. And I am just too scared of getting bored. In fact, the first time when I heard of my role in Uttaran, I knew I wanted to do it. He is a bad guy who wanted to kill a person and he did exactly what he wished for.”

Does this mean that you enjoy playing negative characters? “It’s just that whichever character I take up is because I like and enjoy playing it. In fact, when I was offered Zindagi Kahe … Smile Please, I liked the script. Knowing that Ali (Asgar) was a part of it and the story would be more like Tom & Jerry, I was very excited about the serial but unfortunately it did not do well and we did not get enough publicity. Similarly, when I was offered Uttaran, I went on to grow my beard, cut my hair short and also applied Kaajal. That was the amount of passion I had for the character though my relatives questioned me about my look all the time. But then what was important was that I was enjoying playing it on-screen,” he replies.

How easy or difficult is it to get good roles on TV? “A lot of things are being done for people to like TV shows; there is so much money that is being pumped into every show, but then, when these shows go off-air in three months, the makers do not even regain their money even after selling off their sets. Therefore, producers do not want to take a risk. In such a situation, an actor will get two or three roles, but trust me, I must have said ‘no’ to 50 roles in the last two years simply because I was being offered characters which did not have a story of their own. I have no qualms in playing a father, but then my character must have some story to tell, something like Uttaran and now it’s Dastaan,” he avers.

When asked if he would ever get back to playing a character like Om, he promptly replies, “I never knew that Om was going to be this popular; was offered a role and I took it up. It was only later that I realised that I’ve become a star. Around that time, I was new and when Ekta Kapoor offered me a lead role, I accepted it. Then I did not even have the guts to ask her about Om’s story, but today I would ask about a role before saying a ‘yes’ even if it’s the lead.”

Do you feel the need to experience the same success today? “Once an actor becomes successful, he considers it as a fluke. But then there is another situation where this actor keeps getting different roles. In such a case, the actor’s ego gets a boost and I stand there. After a while, I stopped counting whom I haven’t said a no in the industry,” he observes.

Any role that you think you should have done instead of another actor? “Yes, Dr. Ashutosh in Kuch Toh Log Kahenge. I feel that I should have got that role as it was different. In fact, I did call Rajan Shahi and asked him as to why he did not offer me that role when he was offering me all the other roles. In fact every time I said a ‘no’ to him, I asked him for forgiveness with folded hands.”