I have learnt to remain rooted despite the growing popularity : Gurmeet Choudhary

He rose to fame with Ramayana and his current show Geet has only taken him higher on the popularity stakes. It hasn’t been a joy ride though for Gurmeet Choudhary, who has now been in the industry for seven years. TellyChakkar spoke to the actor to get an insight into his likes and dislikes… Geet is an extremely popular show and your fans love you as Maan. How do you feel about it? I am just humbled by the amount of love they shower on me. I just try to give in 200 per cent to the character. Maan is a good character and I try to do justice to it. Your chemistry with Drashti (Geet) has been well appreciated…How is it working with her? People love the chemistry and the little nonk-jhonk that goes on between us. I guess our timing with our scenes is good and we manage to bring in the humour element. Basically the way the scenes have been written, it becomes easy for us. What according to you is the USP of the show? It’s the story! If you see all the shows on Star One, Geet is different from all of them. There is humour in it too. The chemistry and the characters are totally different. It’s not a typical Star One show. The audiences love it; it is a perfect mix of romance, drama and comedy. Which has been your favourite scene? I am a black belt in martial arts so all the scenes that have me practicing it, the dialogues and the expressions during those scenes are my favourites. Any favourite dialogues? Nothing as such. But when I was told about this character of Maan Singh Khurana I knew I had to make it ekdum dumdaar. I thought about what I could do to make it different. Then I added the whole ‘Maan Singh Khurana ko ye... Maan Singh Khurana woh...’ to add spice to it. I realized the name made an impact and I have added these little things to make it even more forceful. How would you define Debina (your fiancée) in three words? It is difficult to define Debina in three words. I am nothing without her and she is everything for me. I can’t imagine my life without her. What are the things you like and dislike about her? I like Debina the way she is. She is my support system and I cannot dislike anything about her. Best friends from the industry? I have a lot of friends from the industry. I met Apurva Agnihotri during Pati, Patni aur Woh and have been friends with Shilpa and him ever since. We often hang out with each other. Sachin Shroff is also a good friend. One of my oldest friends is Saurabh Pande. I share a special rapport with Anand Sagarji, of Sagar Productions because they gave me my first break in Ramayana. Which is the one character you think you would do justice to? I have been in the industry for the past seven years. I used to think I would suit a negative role, I always thought I would do a negative role. But then Ramayana happened and no other character could be as positive as Ram. Ever since then I have played positive roles. When I bagged Maan Singh Khurana I was happy and enjoy playing it. It is a different role. I want to do all types of roles and characters. I want to be like wax that can be moulded in any shape. What has been the biggest learning for you in this entire journey? I have learnt to remain rooted despite the growing popularity. I have seen people change, developing a negative attitude. I learnt that when I was a struggler, even when I was appreciated in Ramayana and now even as MSK, I never let it go to my head. In fact the more popular I get, the more grounded I become. It is like the tree that bears fruit and it keeps bending more and more to touch the ground. I am like that tree. What do you like to do in your free time? Whatever free time I get I either think of Debina or spend time with her. I don’t get the time to watch TV, don’t even watch my own show. But I do catch up on channels like Discovery, Nat Geo. I watch news channels as well. Message to TellyChakkar fans? You guys have loved me as Ram and as Maan Singh Khurana. Keep loving me always. You are my family and I promise to entertain you forever. Thank you so much.