“My character has progressed so in this way I accept challenges” – Viraf Phiroz Patel

Dashing Viraf Phiroz Patel who plays the rugged character of Mrityunjay talks about his character in depth and much more…

Actor Viaf Firoz Patel who gained popularity after portraying the character of Mrityunjay in Life OK’s Ek Boond Ishq, talks about his character which has gradually progressed, accepting challenging roles and acting in a daily soap.

Here is Viraf unplugged –

How did you get into a daily soap, share with us the first step you took towards daily soap ?

Yes its my first daily soap. Before this show I have done few commercials, too many series with Yash Raj and a telly film with BBC but this is my first experience in daily soap.

So how is your experience till now?

It’s beautiful very different format of content that I have ever being part of. Daily soap is like a mess room it’s challenging we have to come out with a episode every day, we work towards getting the audiences attracted to the show for earning their love and affection. I think making it work is very challenging it is a big deal. I am very happy to be a part of this symphony called Ek Boond Ishq, I am getting to play different types of instruments as a part of my character. I think we are in a great set up and so far I have enjoyed a lot.

Who motivated you to get into this field ?

Actually the credit should go to my brother he is a corporate trainer and motivational speaker. It was 10 years back I was waiting to go back on ship , I was in Merchant navy and getting trained for Merchant navy officer. Shipping was going through a cyclic recession and I was winding my thumbs little longer than usual. My elder brother Mrinojay saw that his younger brother is little sad, sitting at home. He probably noticed some aptitude in me for the field, he asked me why don’t you do this with MR India thing? He came with a cutting of newspaper. I clicked pictures and than they called me for an audition. I was so surprised that they called me for that audition! I got selected because my elder brother believed in me more than I did on myself.

Are you enjoying your character as Mrityunjay?

It’s a very challenging role. In personal life Viraf is completely different. I am this foot in mouth Parsi Baba types who keeps on saying all wrong things. My role has completely changed now we started the character of Mrityunjay who was shown to be very dark, long hair bearded, angst person but now Mritunjay is very happy, light hearted person who loves his wife Tara (Chhavi Pandey) but he is reluctant to be a lover boy, who discovered his real mom so the emotional burden on him is much lesser than before when we started the show. So we have evolved through this arch and in this way I don’t get the same role to play every time. My character has progressed so in this way I accept challenges. In short I am enjoying as Mrityunjay and I am thankful to Life OK because it is very difficult to work with parsi baba. You know I have so much of tantrums (sarcasim).

It has been a long time for you being a part of this show, so how is the tuning with co -stars and other members of the team?

I think it’s fantastic and I am very lucky that we don’t have any kind acrimonious episodes to hold on to. I have always said this Chhavi is an adorable girl and not so difficult to be with. She has got that fire in her belly, she is of course very talented always intimidates me with her singing, we have a very interesting relationship. It is effortless to be with her and this helps us to entertain our audiences. Vishwajeet Pradhan is an interesting person, he is senior to me and guides me every time . I feel he is a kind of person who believes in giving. Actors keep the funny lines with themselves but Vishwajeet believes in sharing and recommending his punch lines and dialogues.

According to you what is more difficult acting in a film or acting in a daily soap?
I think daily soap is a very creative dynamic place, where you act daily with a new episode , you get feed back from the audience in the form of TRPs . It is very difficult to be in a daily soap environment you need lot of creativity and perseverance. You get to deliver everyday so sometimes you don’t get time for creative indulgence but in films you already have things prepared in advance, you have lot of time. A serial actor has a lot to do a lot than a film actor that’s why an actor like Ronit Roy stands out so much in films after doing a brilliant job in TV serials.

How do you connect to your fans ?

Technology has evolved and you have window of social media took look into. Sometimes I get 5 minutes to spend and sometimes I get an hour and sometimes you don’t want to connect because you just want to be yourself. I try to connect to my audience in all possible way. I am very thankful to receive and listen to the audiences opinion by social media.
A message you want to pass on to your fans ?

I love you all, keep the Ishq coming. I have to thank my audience and we hope that we keep on enjoying the show.