I love being an actor, it’s what defines me: Nakuul Mehta

He’s definitely a looker, but he doesn’t believe it. “I do not get that many compliments, I am not kidding, so when one calls me gorgeous or beautiful or handsome or pretty, I take it really seriously — because it doesn’t happen that often,” opens Nakuul as we catch up post one of his busy days of shooting.

Nakuul has quite skilfully moved into theatre and then into serials and now is all set to star in a new production by the Rajshri house, which will probably hit television screens in a few months from now. “It’s a typical Rajshri production — all about family and songs and a typical Indian love story. I am a foreign returned young boy from a broken family who falls in love with a simple atypical small-town Indian girl and the rest is well, quite predictable. The show however will have its surprises and that’s for you to watch and find out,” Nakuul tells us.

What about movies we’re quick to ask and Nakuul informs, “My luck with movies hasn’t been the best, but I am still positive about the whole experience. I have just signed on a project on Prince Siddhartha, who we all know more famously as the Buddha. The project is yet to take off as the production is being handled by a Sinhalese team, who are shooting the Sinhalese version as of now. I play prince Siddhartha and it’s something that I am looking forward to as I am a practicing Buddhist.”

But you haven’t been seen for a while, what were you doing? “Well, I was involved with several projects that for several reasons never took off. One project that I worked on is however quite popular on the indie scene. Called Avant-Garde Pythagoras Sharma, the film was a fascinating piece of parallel cinema made by first-time director Ajay Singh,” he tells us.

So, were you ever offered films from the South? “Funnily enough, I began my career in the Telugu film industry, with a movie called Abhimaani, which never took off. There was some problem from the Ramoji group, after which the film never ever made it to screens, though the audio is still available online — so, I am open to South Indian movies, only if it was with a really great director. Else, let’s face it, I have a language issue and would choose to rather avoid such projects,” Nakuul explains.

Running out of time, we quickly jump to our last question — so what about your career in modelling? “Well, I don’t want to be seen as just a model anymore and I have diversified into theatre and films. I keep doing TVCs and that keeps me connected, but I’d rather be an actor anyday! I love being an actor, it’s what defines me in so many ways,” Nakuul concludes.