"I am bored of television now"

Those striking Kashmiri looks should have helped Aamir Bashir bag more work on TV. But this reticent actor, who starts off an interview by modestly admitting that he doesn't have much to say, prefers to do the odd role that comes his way and go on with his life. After Alpviram and Sarhadein, he appeared recently, although briefly, in Zee's Time Bomb, before being bumped off from the serial. Chikita Kukreja caught up with him at a suburban Mumbai café to find out more… A Kashmiri in Tellywood! Where's the rest of your family? I live alone here but we are a small family with my parents and a married younger brother. My father stays in Delhi and my mom and brother put up in Srinagar. How did you get into this field? I was always fond of acting, right from my school days! Somehow, acting in television never appealed to me but then I did a one off story for Sony's Bhanwar, then I was offered Alpviram…that's how I went ahead with it. If not television, where would you have found yourself? I had worked in television before…. stared off as a journalist… as a correspondent for ANI. But I think, sports broadcasting would have been my preference as I am fond of sports. Tell us about your experience working in Time Bomb and with Ketan Mehta? It was amazing, an absolutely different story line! Not like the daily soaps telecast nowadays which is the same old stuff all over again and again ...boyfriend, lover, husband trying to reach out to the woman he loves. It was a very good experience. After all it was Ketan's show, though he was not directing our track You end up dying in the serial, was it that you left…or it was made to end that way? I did not leave, I died in the serial. My role was supposed to end that way…. there was a kind of ambiguity to the character …every one liked it…. it was mysterious…the team also thought of extending my track but things just couldn't work out. What are your present projects? Nothing on television, I am bored of it…it feels like going to office, a 9-6 job, and I can't stand doing that anymore. Presently, I am writing a script for a movie…I hope to make this film on my own…even direct it. Why didn't you continue doing roles like the character of Rohit in Alpviram, 7- 8 years back? Nothing of that sort came up again. That was also a different character right from the beginning; he was not the same husband…lover…boy friend…etc. There has been talk that you have an attitude problem…. Everyone has an attitude, so do I. Some people it's a good one, some don't. As far as I am concerned, I feel my attitude is absolutely fine…I've walked out of shows, when I was told it is going to be a thriller and it turns out to be a family drama…. if that's bad attitude…then it's bad. Is there anyone you really admire most in the industry? I didn't want to be like anyone in this industry, but yes, I always wanted to work with Mr. Om Puri and I did get a chance to be with him on a very good show called Antaral. And I was so excited to be standing in front of him, that I actually fumbled my lines! Is there anything you miss staying in Mumbai? Winters…a place that does not have four seasons misses out on many things, and Mumbai's definitely a place like that!