Barun Sobti: I am ready to strip onscreen since I have a good body-Review

Barun Sobti: I am ready to strip onscreen since I have a good body The dishy actor reveals why he really quit Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon, his upcoming movie Main Aur Mr Right, his real life story and more Ever since Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon ended, I’ve been trying to get in touch with Barun Sobti – the charming, suave, intense actor that almost every girl I know drools over. He sat waiting patiently for me as I finally found the location and settled down to start my long series of questions. Dressed in beige pants and brown t-shirt, Barun looked cute as ever. Read excerpts of the interview… Ever since you decided to quit television, your fans have been begging and some had even sent threatening letters to the channel to bring you back. Did you personally face any of this? OMG! People threatening… that’s new. I think everyone should get the liberty of picking their own career. I understand that people want to see me back on TV but it’s only because of the kind of content I have been doing that people want to see me more. If I have someone else making that choice for me, the result would not have been the same. Were you approached by anyone to change your mind regarding quitting the Star Plus show? No. Whenever people meet me, they are usually excited to share their experiences and what they love about the character with me. They are happy to greet and pose for pictures with me. Were you surprised to hear that Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon went off air after you announced your resignation? I was in UK when I heard that they had decided to end the show. In fact, it was my mom who told me about it. According to my knowledge, they had roped in Viraf Patel to play a completely new lead in the show, he was not going to replace me; but guess that did not happen. I was on a vacation with my wife that’s when I came to know that the show ended. It’s been two years since you left, what have you been doing all this while, besides shooting for Main Aur Mr Right, 22 Yards and Satra Ko Shaadi Hai? Various things, but it is kinda personal. Is it true that while you were waiting for the release of your films, you were offered television shows? Why did you refuse? Yes I did get a lot of offers but I can’t take any names. A lot of people wanted me to do TV shows before the trailer came out. Offers never stopped pouring, a lot of people thought, ‘ki kuch nahi kar raha hai toh TV offer karte hai’. I do not remember what all scripts I received but I did get quite a few of them. How did Main Aur Mr Riight happen to you? Main Aur Mr Riight happened during Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon itself. These guys called me for the role, I met them, read the script and I liked it. I enacted a few part and they were happy with it. There was no deliberate shift from television to movies as people often keep saying. When I left the show, I didn’t even have any movies in my hand. I had shot for a few sequences, post which I was working for three months on television. I did not leave TV for films. Several interviews post IPKKND suggest that you had health issues, what was that all about? See firstly, I had a mental block ‘coz I was doing the same thing for two years every day for 12 hours. I had experienced that even during my previous show – Baat Hamari Pakki Hai where I worked a lot. There have been times when I’ve even worked every day for a month for an average of 17-18 hours a day. Whenever I took a show, I promised to only do it for one year but once you get into the routine it is hard to let go. With time I realised I was not growing anymore. Besides all this I had started losing a lot of weight, I lost my appetite and my health was not good. Plus I never got any time to spend with my wife. But things in television have changed, right? According to the new regime actors are not allowed to work more than 12 hours in any show. That depends on your star stature. There are people who would come and work for four hours and no one would tell them anything but poor actors like me, we’ve worked for 17-18 hours a day. For my first show Shraddha, I shot for 52 hours with a two hour break in between. I have done crazy amount of work when I was required to, but it got a little too much after my last show. All you are is your character, there’s no life beyond it. Your film Main Aur Mr Right has been delayed over two years, would you know why?