This Grasim Mr India (1999) has been in the entertainment space for more than a decade now. Yes, we are talking of Raqesh Vashisth better known as Rakesh Bapat who is quite excited about the positive buzz his upcoming love story Hongey Judaa Naa Hum has been garnering. Tellychakkar.com entered into a candid chat with this handsome man: Excerpts… Since Hongey… is a love story, what do you feel about your co-star Aamna Shariff? She is a stunner, very hot, but we need to control ourselves (smiles). Even I had heard stories about her throwing attitude around, but when we met, I found her to be the nicest person around. She is very congenial. We hit it off so well that the channel guy’s (Sony Entertainment Television) were super impressed by our chemistry right from the first pilot itself. We greatly help each other during the takings; this makes the chemistry even more sizzling. Was she a bit uncomfortable doing love scenes with you given the intense vibes the promos show? I told her that I will go all out to create the mutual chemistry that was the need of the hour. She said it was fine ‘as you are an actor and are doing your job. Moreover, you are my on-screen husband so I can’t stop you either.’ She is also a practical woman and knows that tomorrow if she gets any other love story; she will also have to do the same. Can you talk a bit about your character? (pauses) Well, I play Rohan who is a painter like me (in real life). I am very happy with his occupation for with every stroke of colour, you can show different emotions (anger, love etc). He is a hyper guy, who loses his cool. He obviously loves Muskaan (Aamna) but as you know, marriage always comes with its own baggage which is difficult to handle. They go their own ways when something happens but eventfully they come back together. Looks like you like to play a lover boy? Love is a God-made phenomenon, isn’t it! It is very interesting to play different variations of a lover boy for unlike other emotions like hate etc, here you don’t have any particular definition. When I play romantic scenes, I feel a great deal of ease compared to playing any other scene. In this, you can take the graph of love scenes to any level. Moving on…you are playing a superhero in Madhur Bhandarkar’s upcoming film Heroine. How did it happen? I met Madhur after which he gave me narration. But I was not impressed since it was only a cameo role. Later, he gave me a better narration. It sounded dicey to me even then. So he told me to just do the film and if I didn’t like it, I could catch him by the collar. With such a big assurance, I had no other go except to agree. Sadly, the film’s length, that was originally 3.10 minutes long, has now been chopped to 2.40 minutes. This has resulted in a lot of scenes of all being chopped out including my dialogues. What do you feel about Kareena Kapoor? Bebo is an amazing person. She did large number of rehearsals with me for important scenes. She is a thorough professional and there was a lot of give and take between us. Kareena’s character meets different actors that includes Arjun (Rampal), Sanjay (Suri) and me on her journey to super stardom. Any more film projects you have taken up? Well… right now I am doing a Marathi dance film Aayna Ka Bayna. I am not really sure about more films. I am happy with TV. I can’t deal with the anxiety levels in Bollywood films, you have to wait six months to know if your film is a hit or a flop and whether you will get more work or not. The small screen space, on the other hand, is constant, it is like big stage, you get instant feedback and we actors live on that very appreciation. Today you need lot a lot of money for survival. I would recommend youngsters who don’t get chance in films, not to keep waiting for that elusive big screen break and instead move on to the small screen where there is big money. Why did you put a Q in your name, numerology? I was not happy with my dad for having given me a very common name; even my watchman must be by the name of Rakesh. The addition of the extra alphabet gives a different touch; I also like it. It might be grammatically incorrect, but so be it. You and your better half (Riddhi) sponsor education for a couple of kids… This concept was floated by my sister who runs an NGO. They help us to choose children. We have to find a school for them, pay the fees and then keep a tab on their progress. This is better than just throwing away money. We have the solace that at least we are sharing responsibility. We never see you in any big ticket non-fiction shows? I am happy as an actor. I have got many reality shows offers (Bigg Boss) but have always declined such offers. Since you mentioned earlier that you are a painter in real life, what kind of magic do you create on canvas? I like to be free. I don’t like portraits which are formal in structure. I rather like to play with colors. I had even won a National Award for painting at the junior level. Apart from painting, I also sculpt as it helps to vent my negative energies. I am a quick artist, done in half hour tops. Are you a romantic person in real life? Why don’t you ask my better half? I believe in love, but I don’t live in la-la land.