Rajesh Kumar tells Jyothi Venkatesh that though there is stability, there is no security as far as acting in television is concerned.

What prompted you to take up the offer to be a part of Comedy Circus?
It was my first and foremost aim to get out of the image of Rosesh with which I have been saddled ever since I did the serial Sarabai Versus Sarabai. Besides, what lured me to accept the offer to take up Comedy Circus was the money offered to me and the challenge of being a stand up comedian.

In what way do you find Comedy Circus a different experience?
You see Rosesh was completely a character that I portrayed as an actor whereas in Comedy Circus, my fans can find me as myself. I am me in this show. You have to take everything in your stride when you set out to experiment and explore as an actor.

Please explain!
Though you have faced the camera as an actor over a hundred times, you still feel nervous when you take part in a reality comedy show like Comedy Circus, because there is absolutely no retake at all. Besides, the fact also remains that a reality show is more thrilling and throws a lot of challenges to the participants.

It is actually a do or die situation, come to think of it and you have got to do everything in one go, from start to finish.

How did you set out to prepare for the show?
My partner Rajeev is really very good as a stand up comedian. If you remember, it was Rajeev who was the runner up in the Laughter Challenge.

I make it a point to leave the script to Rajeev since he is also a very good writer, besides being a brilliant stand up comedian. Rajeev decides the punch lines and the jokes that we have to incorporate in the show in our acts.

What kind of home work Rajeev and you do to put on your best act for the show?
Rajeev and I work out together, not in the gym but for the show during our rehearsals. (Laughs) Dharampal, who is our creative director, also helps us a lot in putting our act together. Dharampal is also the director of the extremely popular comedy show Baa Babu Aur Baby.

In what way do you try to be one up over your competitors in the show?
In the first place, I do not feel that the other celebrities who are taking part in the show are my competitors. I would rather say that they are our co-participants. We are coming up with creative laughter. We try more on satire than cracking up jokes. I feel that comedy is absolutely a very serious business today.

How does your wife Madhvi react to your popularity as a comedian?
My wife Madhvi is happy with my popularity but nevertheless humor at home at times leads to serious fights, because no one takes humor seriously.

You seem to make your solo appearances these days at parties. Your wife does not accompany you even on the sets of Comedy Circus. Why?
We are expecting our first kid sometime in July this year and hence Madhvi is taking it easy and does not strain herself.

Which are the serials you are acting in as of now?
I am acting in the serial Grih Daah which is based on a Sarat Chandra Chatterjee novel. I play Suresh, who is a slightly negative character in the serial.

Basically Grih Daah, which is on air on the national network of Doordarshan, is a love triangle. Besides Grih Daah, I am also acting in two more serials – the highly popular Baa Bahu Aur Baby for Star Plus and Chalti Da Naam Gaddi for Zee TV, in which I am playing the role of a gin.

What is interesting to note is that both the shows are produced by the same production house which had made Sarabai Versus Sarabai.

Do you plan to take up offers to act in films, too?
Till date, I have not faced the camera for a Hindi film, though I did act in a Marathi film called Rang Birangi in which I did a few scenes. Rajendar Bade directed the film, in which my co-stars were Manoj Joshi and Aniket Vishwas.

Though I am a Bihari in real life, I played the character of a Parsee who talks in Marathi in the film. It was a comic role, which I enjoyed doing. I am still waiting for the right offers from Hindi filmmakers.

What is your ambition as an actor?
When I consider myself as an actor I need a lot of creative satisfaction as an actor and hence I try to touch different roles to prove my versatility instead of getting stuck with the silly image of a comedian, especially after Sarabai Versus Sarabai.

All said and done, isn't the character of Rosesh your claim to game as an actor?
Yes. I agree but at the same time I am also trying to keep the character of Rosesh away for the simple reason that it is a character which has been done to death. I feel it is high time that I decided to experiment a little as an actor and also set out to explore my various facets and dimensions as an actor.

How do you look back at your career as an actor on television?
It is almost a decade since I had made my debut on television. It has been a good and eventful decade. I am happy that though I had struggled for five years, I have also tasted success for five years.

Frankly speaking, though I find that stability is there as far as acting in television serials is concerned, because you do not know which serial will be yanked off the air by the channel. It is all a game of TRPs.

In which way do you think you have grown up as an actor over the years?
I have acted in around 15 to 20 TV serials in a period of ten years. Over the years, I have grown up from the scratch. I have learnt to give reactions. In the beginning of my career, I knew only to deliver my dialogues.

Which according to you have been your best serials as an actor?
It is very difficult to pin point which are my best serials till date because I think I have done only the best out of the lot which were offered to me.

Like Ek Mahal Ho Sapno Ka, Kusum, in which Chandi Toor Roy was my co-stat, Des Mein Nikla Hoga Chand, in which Kainaaz was my co-star, Sarabai Versus Sarabai, in which Roopali Ganguly was my co-star, Baa Bahu Aur Baby and last but not the least Love Mein Kabhi Kabhi in which Vidya Balan was my co-star.

What has been your achievement as an actor?
People love me when I do serious roles though I have made them laugh their guts out with my performance in Sarabai Versus Sarabai. I think my achievement is that I can make people cry, too, at the drop of my hat with my performances.