Gautam Rode is one straight forward and honest actor. Unlike the others in his tribe, he is not always politically correct and says how things are and not how they should be. At a time when most actors say that they don’t care about ratings, here is the actor, currently doing Saraswatichandra and Nach Baliye (Both Star Plus), who admits, “It is all about numbers, we are all working towards the same. If numbers fall and a show falls by the wayside, the entire unit goes out of work.” Making a further frank admission, he exclaims, “Till a while back when the TVTs or TRPs of my show were down I was worried. For you don’t like to get associated with a flop show and the other part is that you also get stigmatized as a bad luck actor.” When asked about the public outcry regarding the creative moving away from the novel, he avers, “That is again because of the ratings. Firstly when we went by the book, the numbers never came and now that we are taking liberties with the plot, the ratings are coming; we have even touched 3 TVR which was never the case before.” When asked if he had read the novel, he replies, “No, I simply go by the inputs the creatives give to me. I am just an actor who will do as he is told. I don’t interfere in other things which are anyway not my call.” “Same is the case with the marriage between Kumud and my title character. Whenever we think of bringing them together in matrimony, the numbers drop and vice versa,” Gautam quips. When asked about change of production house of Saraswatichandra from Sanjay Leela Bhansali to Sunjoy Wadhwa (Sphere Origins), the actor says that the change means a lot if you read between the lines. “Sphere Origins is a well-known TV production company and they know how things work. So things are quite smooth,” he informs. How long should Saraswatichandra run? “Gone are the days when serials would run for years together. In today’s times if a project lasts for around a year and half, it is quite good. Having said that, I would want my show to go on and on as long as the ratings are in our favour,” he answers. Wall said, Gautam!!!