From selling soda water and real estate to acting Deven Bhojani

An actor who started his journey way back in 1986 with an episode of Malgudi Days has moved on to do landmark roles in shows like Dekh Bhai Dekh, Sarabhai Vs Sarabhai, Baa Bahu Baby, Remote Control. Today the actor has completed successful 24 years in the industry and is still going strong. He has also taken up direction and is also working as a Creative head of Baa Bahu Baby . The actor will be soon entering Ek Packet Umeed in a different role. Sipping a cuppa coffee Deven talks about all things creative and a few things personal. When did you realize that acting was what you wanted to pursue? I have been doing theatre from 1984. It started as a hobby and was fun. Along with theatre I was also working as a salesman for a soda maker. After that I also tried my hand at being a real estate agent. Butt one day I got a call Mansoor Khan for Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar and I had to travel to Ooty for 2 months. It was then that I decided to quit everything and just concentrate on acting. So how did you get into television? From inter-collegiate competitions to professional theatre and then into TV. My first TV serial was Malgudi Days, followed by Dekh Bhai Dekh , Tara , Ek Mahal Ho Sapno Ka , Office Office and many more. Tell us more about your character Keshav in EPU? Well Keshav is a servant of the house. Recently the maid in Umeed Bhavan leaves the house leaving everybody in the lurch. Then the head of the house decides that bring in the servant who will eventually rule the house. He is an educated guy who can speak a little bit of English that has a pinch of desi style. But nobody knows who is he and sometimes the ladies of the house find him mysterious. He can cook well and clean the house properly but he is also a poet. Are you a good cook in real life as well? Not at all. I cannot even make tea for my self. I remember once my wife and my mother went out of town for a week and they arranged for a cook for me. On the first day I thought of helping him. I put some moong dal on the gas and after a few minutes I realised that it was burnt. I once again tried to re-cook it and this time it was half-cooked. I finally gave it to my cook and after that never tried cooking myself. With so much work on hand how do you manage your personal life? Whenever I get time, I take my family out. I spend quality time with my daughters by playing with them, taking them for swimming, shopping, dinner or movies. At times my daughters do complain, but by the end of the day, they too understand. Until now you have played varied characters which is your favourite? It is and will be Gattu as this has given me lots of popularity. In these two years Gattu became a famous house hold name. It was one of the most challenging roles for me to play and I have done lots of home work for it. I had been visiting autistic children to study them. I use to spend lots of hours with them to know how they react and feel about certain situations. Beside that Gattu for me was a trial and error thing as it was totally different. I took a couple of months to get in that character. So what’s next? Well we are soon coming up with a new season of Remote Control. The show will go on air from 27 August which will be for an hour and air twice a week. The story will continue but yes we will be introducing some new characters in the show. The second season will only be for 26 episodes and then will go off air. Besides that there is no other serial as I don’t have enough time. I’m working as an actor and creative head too which is enough for me.