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`I've had supernatural experiences'

Actor Sudhanshu Pandey has his hands full with a new serial and three movies

RAINY DAYS Sudhanshu in a still from the serial `Akela'

When you call on actor Sudhanshu Pandey's cell, you are welcomed by the song Akele hai toh kya gum hai from Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak and for minutes you are left wondering whether this is an innovative way of promoting the new television serial, Akela, where he plays the lead protagonist. But the model/TV actor/singer/film actor is quick to clarify it is not. "It is sheer coincidence. The song is there just because I like it," he says.

The new serial, which went on early this week, marks his return to the small tube after six years. But why such a long hiatus?

"After the serial Kanyadaan, I quit TV to make a music career with the Band of Boys and after I quit that I moved on to do films. So I never really had the time.

That's the reason I didn't take up Akela when it was offered to me a year earlier. Also, I really cannot be a part of this saas-bahu scenario where there are nearly 100 characters.

I think I will be brain dead," explains Sudhanshu, who became a household name with the popular show Cook it up with Tarla Dalal.

Opportunity beckons

But when the opportunity came knocking a second time, while shooting for a special episode for CID, he couldn't resist it this time. "It is the script that made me take up the project.

The serial is just for 26 episodes, so doesn't ask for much commitment. It will finish by the time my next film schedule starts. There's no reason for me to reject it." The man is very happy with the kind of response the very first episode has generated.

Akela is about a cop Ranvir, played by Sudhanshu, who can communicate with the dead. That may be reel, but even in the real life the man believes in the existence of a parallel world. "I have had many supernatural experiences. If I start narrating them, even a non-believer will start to accept the existence a power that's beyond a person," he feels.

When it comes to films, his plate is currently full with three movies, Unns, Choodiyaan and Manoranjan, ready for release.

"I will start shooting for Sanjay Gupta's Alibag from October, which has been written by Gulzar.

I have also shot for a short film by Sanjay called Matrimony, which will be part of his film Das Kahaniya," points out Sudhanshu, who finished shooting for the second episode in the Mumbai rains.

MANGALA RAMAMOORTHY

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