Gavie Chahal is happy with his stint in Ek Tha Tiger

While watching Ek Tha Tiger (ETT), many of us felt that Katrina Kaif’s’ ISI handler Major Abrar was a familiar face. Yes, he is no one else but talented TV actor Gavie Chahal who was first noticed in Mohe Rang De on Colors, but never managed to make it big on the small screen space. He last appeared in Zee TV’s Mrs Kaushik Ki Paanch Bahuein in which he played one of the sons of the house. However, Gavie is a big name in Punjabi films. He has four lead roles to his credit. So how did ETT happen? “My TV stint did not help me. In between, I met director Kabir Khan and expressed my interest to work with him. Not knowing my identity well, he asked me to mail him my resume and pictures,” He further believes that his Punjabi looks might have helped him bag the role. He is very happy with the box office response that this Salman Khan-starrer spy love has been generating. “We were always assured of a big opening. Some people are even speculating that this Yashraj Films project might even touch a turnover of Rs 300 crores,” he avers. “I am also getting personal good feedbacks from the trade. Yashji says that his wife inquired about me after she liked my work. The best part of Kabir Khan is that he did not make my character a negative one. It was not that ISI was bad and RAW good. Agreed, I had that hard look but that is how the character was framed up and let’s face, you can’t expect secret agents to smile when they are in life-and-death situations,” Gavie observes. How was the experience of working with Salman? “Bhai is a very chilled out dude. Once I had to punch him but was afraid to use strength. To make me grow up in confidence, he asked me to keep on punching him during the break. After I raised my confidence level and when he felt that the punch was strong enough, he said hit me like that. That was his greatness. Tell me who else would have done it?” he shares. Post ETT, Gavie is open to doing more good Bollywood work. “Right now, I am in Punjab shooting for my upcoming local films. The response here is also overwhelming. I have just two more offers. Punjabi films is a rising market but let’s face the buzz, what my role in ETT will get me, will be much more than all my Punjabi films put together can generate,” Gavie maintains. So what about TV? “I will do television provided I get some meaty character but yes my dates should not clash with my future films. One of the major reasons why I signed up for Mrs. Kaushik Ki Paanch Bahuein was because they did not stop me from going to Punjab for my regional films. However I left that the Zee TV show last January when I had to offer bulk dates for ETT’s overseas schedules,” he concludes.