YRF’s first venture on the small screen has been nothing short of a disaster. But for Mahi Way, the other shows bombed. And even Mahi Way is scheduled to go off air by this month-end. But not before creating two stars of its lead actors Pushti and Viraf the protagonists of the serial thanks to the popularity of the show. TellyChakkar spoke to Viraf Phiroz Patel. Tell us something about your background. We have heard you did a film earlier, but is Mahi Way your fist television show? Let me start with a disclaimer. I am not one of those who always wanted to be an actor since childhood! I was an officer in Merchant Navy and would indulge in various activities like modeling and anchoring shows between contracts. It was more like a hobby. My brother Minocher Patel forced me to participate in the Grasim Mr India pageant and that changed the course of my career. I won the pageant and started thinking seriously of what I wanted to do with my potential as a model and actor. I realized acting definitely attracted me and I started honing my skills as an actor. But if it wasn’t for the belief of my brothers Minocher and Farhad, I would not have been able to make that switch from Merchant Navy to acting. Mickey Mehta, Cyrus Broacha and Boman Irani too helped me in this switch. They helped me get the basics right and focus on the more critical issues. Yes, Mahi Way is fortunately my first stint in fiction on television. I say fortunately because I couldn’t have asked for a better role, director, producer, unit or a cast. Sadly though, Mahi Way is coming to an end. How was your experience? Enlightening! I have learnt a lot about life from this show. As an actor it was enriching. Working with director Nupur Asthana helped me grow. Encouraging because of the love I have received from the audience for portraying the character of Shiv. Mahi Way is the only YRF show to be successful. What was unique about this? I would say that the four shows YRF produced had the finest content one has seen on Indian television till date! Each show catered to a particular viewer base and managed to connect with them. I strongly feel the television scene should celebrate and embrace the coming of these four shows because someone has had the gumption to go against the existing pattern of content and raise the bar in all aspects. Be it in scripting, direction, production values, cinematography, acting or packaging, the four YRF shows beat everything hands down. Seven and Mahi Way may be the TRP leaders, Powder and Rishta.com commanded a loyal audience, though niche in nature. We all know that the numbers game in television is not too fair to niche programming and hence everyone found it easy to label the Yash Raj shows ‘unsuccessful’. Mahi Way, in my opinion clicked, because of the woman power involved! Starting from Devika Bhagat who wrote the brilliant story and screenplay, Anvita Dutt Guptan who wrote great lines, Ravina Kohli the creative head at YRF TV, Panchali Sarkar the executive line producer, and of course, the captain of the ship, Nupur Asthana. She directed it with so much love! And if you did not know, even the editor of the show is a woman – Khushboo Agarwal Raj! Now with so many able, fire brand women working on one TV show, it’s hard to go wrong, right? In real life, do you see a horizontally-challenged girl falling in love with a handsome hunk and achieving success in her life? Being ‘fat’ in my opinion has nothing to do with success. All the so called good looking slim people would have been ruling the world then! If someone wants to deal with obesity or being fat, the best way to deal with it is to find its root cause, and come to terms with it. Once you do that you either change yourself for better or remain yourself for good. Either way you are a happier person, which is the key to finding love and success. How would you define ‘Love’? Love is to want happiness for the person you love. Honestly, this is what I understand of love at this juncture of life. As I get older and hopefully wiser I am certain I’ll have a deeper understanding of the mysterious human concept of ‘love’, just the way its understanding has evolved for me over the years. You have achieved a huge female fan base. How do you feel? Fortunate! You have anchored shows, done modeling, worked in films, performed as a DJ and acted in television. Which one attracts you the most and why? Acting and anchoring top the list as they allow me to influence the emotional aspect of the audience the most. Is it true you have been selected for YRF's second season show with Rahul Bagga? There are few exciting things happening and YRF has expressed interest in me. But at this stage YRF is in the best position to make a statement. What are your future plans? Spirituality, politics, babies, marriage, companionship are some. Apart from this, making stronger identity as a talent actor and earning respect for my craft. All this, preferably in the reverse order! Meantime, I have happily trusted my talent into an icon called Aditya Chopra. Hopefully he should have some plans for me! For now, I am just happy knowing where my next meal is coming from and how my bills are getting paid.