He turned his back on one of the most popular Balaji series Ghar Ek Mandir at the height of its popularity in 2001. He's been out of the spotlight for a while, but that doesn't seem to bother the suave Ram Kapoor. He chooses his roles with care, and his return to TV as ACP Prithvi Singh in telefilm Bali on Star One next weekend is a handpicked selection. "I have been a Prahlad Kakkar flunkey for three years almost a decade ago, and I just couldn't resist working with his banner this time round," laughs the actor. Ram has scarcely been seen on TV, save for the occasional ad after the commercial disaster called Dhadkan on Sony two years ago. Dhadkan was too hard hitting for an audience that was not ready for it," he sighs. "The changes made to mellow it down only worsened matters." Dhadkan died a premature death in late 2002. Ram incidentally was one of the earliest telly superstars spawned by Balaji Telefilms. "Viewers fell for the Rahul-Anchal track played by me and Gautami and the channel pushed it too. There were days we would do 18 scenes a day," he recalls. Ram gave the serial up after doing over 300 episodes, saying he had had his fill. There are no regrets quitting Ghar Ek Mandir, because as Ram says, he would have stopped growing in the show. "There have been several offers from Balaji, but I can't commit so many days a month to one show," he says determinedly. He now prefers doing parallel cinema (has just finished shooting for a film, Kal from the Sudhir Mishra camp, due for release in February 2005), plans to start his own production company, and would love to direct wife Gautami in one of his own creations. "Producers today don't want talent, they just want efficiency," rues the actor, who studied the Stanislovsky school of method acting in the US before coming back to India. On the home front, wife Gautami too is taking a sabbatical from television, concentrating on her modeling assignments. And yes, they have recently had an addition to the family. "My wife got really fond of the Hutch puppy, so I gifted her a pug on our anniversary. So, now we have a son!"