by Subhash K Jha

He was the absolute summit man. When Mihir Virani the scion of the Virani empire died in a car crash the nation wept hysterically. To this day Amarr Upadhyay can't believe he was at the vortex of such preponderant adulation.

"But now Mihir is behind me. I can never go back to playing that character. It was an essential part of my growth as a humanbeing and an actor. But now it's over. I don't know where all this talk of my return to Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Thi originated. If I had any desire to return why would I've left the serial in the first place?"

Amarr seems more flabbergasted than furious by rumours that he has been angling for a place in the soap that made him a household name.

"I've heard that I'm keen to return, if not as my original character than as Mihir's grandson named Mayank. Who on earth is Mayank? And where did that come from? When I read myself saying I want to play this character I asked my wife (who follows Kyunki Saas...) who Mayank was. I've never heard that name, so how could I say I'm going to play that character? I think some of our journalists should take to writing serials. Their imagination is more fertile than the soap writers."

Taking a deep breath and trying to control his bitterness Amarr says, "Let me state once and for all that after I left I never wished to be back in Kyunki.....not then not now. That remains unchanged. I AM NOT INTERESTED AT ALL. I'm happy to be back with Ekta Kapoor's Balajee Telefilms to do two serials Kkusum and Kasauti Zindagi Kay. I'm in negotiation with another major production house for a daily soap."

In-between his efforts to make a movie career and to re-establish himself on TV, Amarr did Sahara's daily Saathiya which failed to take off, lending credence to the belief that tv stars do not get a second chance.

Didn't Parmeet Sethi, Mihir Mishra, Sudhanshu Pande and Shekhar Suman ruin their promising careers on tv in pursuit of a larger canvas?

Amarr's vehement denial of the role that made him so popular replicates the indignant responses of Aneeta Kanwar and PriyaTendulkar. Tyepcast in viewers' minds as Lajjoji in Buniyaad and Rajani in the serial Rajani the actors made vain efforts to consolidate their positions on large screen.

Parmeet Sethi gave up a thriving career on television to pant after Twinkle Khanna in the walk-on role in Mela . He could never regain lost glory on television. Today he's reduced to playing second fiddle to Apoorva Agnihotri in Jassi Jaisi...Koi Nahin.

For now Amarr Upadhyay too has to be content playing less than the main lead.

Will Amarr be second-time lucky? "I should hope so. It isn't as though I've abandoned my career plans in movies. I just chose wrongly."

He refutes rumours that he acted pricey with movie producers . "I don't know who spread these rumours about me throwing attitude and asking for astronomical sums of money. It was the other way around. Some of my movie producers failed to pay up after agreeing to a certain price."

The prodigal seems to have returned home...or shall we say, the home viewing medium? It won't be easy for Amarr to regain lost ground specially after he had been quoted as saying he would never return to television.

Never say never again.