Patience, perseverance and hard work are the keys to success. This maxim applies to talented actor Jay Soni who has been around for a long time (Remix, Baa Bahoo Aur Baby, Dharti Ka Veer Yodha, Prithviraj Chauhan and Remote Control), tasted success much later with Star Plus’ Sasural Genda Phool. Currently, he is playing a determined Indian valued man in Colors’ show Sanskaar – Dharohar Apno Ki. We met up with Jay at the recently held Indian Telly Awards- after party and had a casual chat with him on his career and more. Excerpts: How do you see your character in Colors’ Sanskaar – Dharohar Apno Ki turning up? I am quite happy with the growth of Jaikishan in the show in which I am getting to play lots of shades. It is also important, for at a time when we are seeing a gradual decay of societal values in our day-to-day lives, our show puts forward the importance of family and good Indian behaviour. The TRPs of Sanskaar are not really shining though? The ratings are steady; neither does it go too high nor does it drop too low. I guess the fact that stiff competition from rival shows may also be contributing to the current scenario. Also, we can’t discount the ongoing IPL. Once this mega cricket tournament wraps up, I am sure our numbers will rise as well. A lot of interesting stuff is on the anvil in the plot of Sanskaar in the near future. How do you rate this Swapna Waghmare Joshi production compared to your earlier shows? It is very heartening to get to play diverse characters on TV. Luckily most of my shows have me playing different shades. If Ishaan- the young husband was unsure of himself in Sasural Genda Phool, here in this show I play a guy who is steadfast in his principles while living abroad. After Sasural wrapped up, I had to wait for a while before this show came along, but it was worth the time. As an actor you constantly need to reinvent yourself. So, what new are you doing at the moment? One of the biggest changes I have done with myself is that I am now working on my body. I don’t believe that you need biceps and cuts to look hot, I rather want to look lean and fit. I have started on the process and hope to be there soon. Already people are beginning to appreciate my look. Are you friendly with women? I don’t flirt with anyone on the sets. I rather do my work and go home. Many girls wrongly take this straight forward approach as arrogance. Although I have been in this industry for long, I still hold my middle class values very dearly. Even my family will not take kindly to any such behaviour. I will be asked to get out if I pull any such stunts. Anything else besides Sanskaar in the offing? I don’t have time for anything else right now. Nowadays, I hardly get any off time to be with my mom. She complains that I only get home post 2.30 /3 am. I have to explain to her that our shoot hours are very erratic. Also I go to my 24*7 gym for my work out session after pack up, so I get more late to reach home. I had been offered to host India's Best Dramebaaz, but I could not do that due to certain reasons. I feel that I can host very well and have already proved my mettle in Sa Re Ga Ma Pa L'il Champs 2011. Would the fact that you are working on Colors affect your chance to simultaneously work on a non-fiction show on other rival channels? I don’t think that would have been an issue as channels also checkout the concerned person’s past work record. Tell us about the T20 TV actors’ cricket match that you took part in last Friday? It was fun. I had told organizer Vikas Kalantri that I might be late (busy shooting), but will surely turn up. Had I been less tired, would have enjoyed even more.