/> He's television's blue-eyed 40-plus boy. Soap-watching women adore Mohnish Behl.

"That label of the middle-aged woman's sex symbol is embarrassing but flattering. But my wife actress Arati seems to agree. So I'm happy."

Mohnish Behl is the son of the mythic actress Nutan. "My pedigree did give me an edge," the softspoken Behl reveals on a simmering Sunday afternoon when his newly-found tv stardom is put on hold for one day of the week.

"Being Nutan's son made producers take me seriously. I was flooded with roles largely villainous but also some very memorable positive ones in the films of Sooraj Barjatya."

Barjatya a close friend of Behl has cast Mohnish in all his film except his last Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon which incidentally wasn't a hit for the Barjatyas.

"I'm not saying that, you are," laughs Mohnish. " The truth is, I was very satisfied with my innings in cinema. But somewhere a sense of stagnancy had set in. I needed a change.

I distinctly remember that morning in 2001 when I was driving down when I suddenly noticed there were more hoardings of television shows than soaps. That's when I realized the reach of television."

The first soap that Mohnish did was Sanjeevani. "Coincidentally I played a doctor in that. And I played a doctor in the serial Ek Ladki Anjani Si. It was a show put together by the same team that had done Devi on Sony Entertainment with me ealier. Ek Ladki Anjani Si got me extremely encouraging feedback."

Mohnish seems to like his image of the middleaged dependable man. "But my advantage as an actor is, I play both positive and negative characters comfortably. I'm not tied down by any image. If I was the kind dependable doctor in Ek Ladki Anjani I was also the villainous husband in Devi."

Mohnish came together with his Devi co-star Sakshi Tanwar one more time for Ekta Kapoor's Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki.

Ekta says the feedback to Mohnish's presence and performance was unprecedented. "Did she really say that?" laughs the affable actor. "She never told me that. Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki was the only serial I did with Ekta."

Apparently the parting with Balajee Telefilms wasn't amicable, though Mohnish isn't the kind of actor who would cry foul. "I've been around too long, done and seen enough."

Unlike some other actors from the large screen who came to television after running out of opportunities in cinema Mohnish made the transition while he had a choice.

"I'm still doing films including Sooraj-ji's Vivah. I've just completed Sukhwant Dhada's Chooriyan where I've a positive role, and an untitled Hindi-Punjabi film. I lied and said I knew Punjabi to get the role.

But my wife is Punjabi and she helped me with my dialogues. The Hindi-Punjabi film is somewhat similar to my soap Ek Ladki Anjani Si It's about artifical insemination with me again featured as a dependable doctor."

"Maybe it's my face," he laughs. "Because even when they offered me so many villain's roles in films it was always because they needed someone who would look contrary to the evil character he finally turned put to be.

From Salman's adversary in Maine Pyar Kiya to his benevolent elder brother in Hum Saath Saath Hain, I've done it all."