I want people to hug me, not touch my feet: Siddharth Arora

With the onset of monsoons, SAB TV is back with a new comedy show Krishan Kanhaiya produced by Garima Productions.Yesterday at the press launch, we got in touch with lead of the show Siddharth Arora aka Krishna. In a quick chat with Tellychakkar, the actor spoke about the show, his character, the look and more. Read on… Tell us something about your role… My character of Krishna is very challenging. The most difficult part is that you can’t make any mistake with such godly characters. My Krishna will be seen in a very contemporary avatar, who will answer the questions raised by Kanhaiyalal (Nikhil Ratnaparkhi). Have you done any special preparation for the show? I haven’t watched any shows or movies, but yes, I have read a lot of books on Krishna. I have also read the Bhagavad Gita. I discuss my scenes and take lessons from my director Ashwini sir (Dhir). Do you agree that godly characters connect with the masses better? India is a religious country and we believe in God. When we watch these kinds of shows, we do connect very easily. But our show is very different as Krishna will be seen in a modern avatar. He will be seen as a friend to Kanhaiya. Have you ever felt the presence of God in real life? Many times! When I gotstuck in a situation, I pray to God and I have always been saved. The biggest example of this is when after my MBA, I wanted to get a job in Mumbai so I could concentrate on my acting career as well. There were 32 people chasing the same job hence, I went to Siddhivinayak to pray. What’s more, by the end of the day, I was selected. What excited you to choose this show? I always try to experiment with my characters. I don’t want to do a saas bahu show or play a family guy in a female-oriented show. There are very few shows with male protagonists and luckily, I have been part of the projects were I have been the male lead. Do you expect people to touch your feet? I am expecting people to hug me and not touch my feet. Do you like your new clean shaven look? I was a little skeptical about the clean shaven look. But it was Anooj sir’s (SAB TV channel head) decision and it paid off for this role. If someone tells me to go bald for a role, I won’t mind as performance matters to me than looks. Are you religious by nature? I believe in God but not in rituals. I think good deeds make God happy. I would prefer going to an NGO or helping the needy than going to a temple, standing for hours and spending thousands of rupees on garlands. Krishna was always surrounded by gopis, how many gopis do you have in your life? I have many female friends as I get along better with girls than boys. Now that you are playing the role of Krishna, have you sacrificed anything? I procrastinate a lot, which I need to curb. Also, I need to be a little more organized.