Raghu in unexpected form

Raghuram who gave nightmare to the contestants in MTV Roadies, got candid in an interview talking about his film, fundas and future. Reality show specialist will be for the first time dealing with fiction with the film   1-800-love. So guys get geared to expect many unexpected avatar of his.       

On film offers…
Rajeev and I have received many film offers. But the fact is that we don’t have time. I turned down the offer from a big production house over date issues. Very sarcastic remark came from him saying oh! Raghuram does not have time and has date issues. I was doing Roadies then. I said yes Raghuram has date issue more than your biggest star because Raghuram is an employee and usse chhutti ki arzi deni hoti hai. I can’t stand up and say hey shoot for me anytime.

On his film debut…
I desperately needed a break from work and had decided upon a sabbatical. But very next day I got a call from Abbas Tyrewala. I am playing an integral part in his film 1-800-love that stars John Abraham and Abbas’s wife Pakhi. I’m not playing negative character but it’s a normal personality like in Jaane Tu… Genelia’s fiancé, he was not a villain, he was a certain character. My look will be the same in the movie. mujhe wig pehna diya jaayega toh koi pehchaanega hi nai.

On Abbas Tyrewala…
If you see Jane Tu Ya Jaane Naa…there are no black, white or grey characters. I like Abbas bhai because he does not look at the world as black or white. We do meet such characters in life. Abbas was looking for that character that has personality like me. He auditioned lot of people but nobody fit the character thus he approached me. I told him personality toh theek hai but performance is your department as I am not the born performer. I had only met him at the premier and once for the celebration of his movie along with my wife Sugandha Garg. She did not recommend my name at all for my film. As I have barged unknown number in my phone Sugandha conveyed me that he (Abbas) has been trying to get in touch with me.

On Roadies after-effects…
I use to get weird calls including death threats at odd times. Once it was three in the morning. A guy called Arjun constantly kept calling me. I told him that I don’t take calls at this time. He still kept calling but I did not answer. Guess what he messaged me saying baat karle baksh dunga, Warna tu gaya. I was like Mare ja raha hai baat karne ko karle jo karna hai…I did not speak to him. Then I changed my number but again my new number got leaked on Orkut. So I got unknown numbers barged. I am very private person in fact I stop going to places where people start staring at me. Log kehte hai bewkufi hai what if someone has some serious work with you. I am like gaya toh gaya but I don’t wanna be bothered. At times mujhe log street pe milte hai they say sir ek gaali do. Yeh kya baat hui…Fir mein gaali deta hoon they say thank you. Its strange log gaali sunna chahte hai mujhse. The say sir aapse ek baar fadwaani hai.

On acting career
I do not want to come on camera. I opposed to my best for even roadies audition. Only reason that I agreed was that I knew what I want out of a Roadie and I could speak Hindi. I am a person who will execute behind the camera. Acting is what I never wanted to do but I’m passionate about music. Cameras don’t make me nervous but I am edgy about acting. It is altogether different that I have been doing so far. If meri wajah se retakes hote gaye toh mereko bahut burra lagega. Films are far more expensive than shows. Kya hoga yaar! Mereko sabse bada tension yeh hai ki kissi sad scene mein koi ro raha hai aur mein hass pada.

On future in acting…
I never ever planned Bollywood. I don’t anyway foresee a long career in film industry for myself because of the way I look, I won’t experiment either. There is no point in looking different and being the same person. I have never ever shot fiction and am koso door from it. In this film I will give my best and try different ways of delivering a dialogue. If I find that I have learnt to portray different characters and I am a good actor then I will carry on with acting but I cannot make acting my sole career. I expect to be limited in the kinds of role that I get to play because of its value.

On Childhood …
We are from South Indian middle class family where you have to study, get a good job, get married and settle down. We were not that good student. All our focus was in making a better student. There were no extra curricular activities that we would take part in. I now feel that it was a mistake. We were not good in studies because that did not interested us. Music interested us, story telling interested us. We did drop out from college and started working. It’s almost 15 years now. Everyone can do everything but only few people excel. Maths class mein har koi baithta hai, log 100% bhi laate hai aur mere jaise fail bhi hote hai. Meine ek baar zero laaye the, fir maine mehnat ki mehnat ki aur agle test meine ek laaye tha. Ussi class mein mere bagal mein baithne waals usse 25 mein se 25 lata tha. Seekhaya toh sabko jata hai lekin who kuch log hote hai jo seekh jaate hai. So it is all about if you have an aptitude you can become an actor. If you are good at some thing you should get trained and then you improve with experience.

On MTV…
MTV, I and Rajeev share a connection. Our energies match. No channel would like to show our idea but MTV loves it. So it’s fun to be here. Why go else where.

On VJying…
People think who can gel their hair and go to gym can become a VJ. VJying too needs an intrinsic talent. According to me Nikhil and Ranvijay are the best presenters we have. But all I and Rajeev can do is we can express ourselves most effectively. If some shows will require us as a personality we will do it.

On his Love for music
Rajeev and I always had affinity towards music. When we were 5 months old we would react to the emotions of the song. If it is sad song we would cry and if it happy song we would laugh. I do play guitar but I regret not learning Karnataka music. Our teacher said that they can be brilliant singers only if they can sit still for an hour. So they refuse to teach us. We use to do choreography in college and continued it for 5 years. I am also associated with a band called Agni. I wrote Roadies theme song, I wrote song for Team Diva with Agni. Lot of my friends asks me to cut an album but I believe though I am a better singer than most of them but it does not mean that I can come up with an album. Sonu Nigam, Jagjit Singh, ….they are so good, that is the standard of singing.

-Deepa Mishra / - SAMPURN