Karan Patel "wants to be in Shah Rukh Khan's place" in the next five years

Do you remember Karan Patel who recently participated in Survivor India on Star Plus? Well if not, then we are sure you know him as Robbie Sabbarwal of Kasturi and for the ones who haven’t seen him in daily soaps, he will be soon seen in Sanjay Gupta’s upcoming movie Shootout at Wadala. Yes, the actor has been a part of the entertainment industry for almost a decade now and has played different roles. In a conversation with Tellychakkar.com he describes his journey. So you’re doing a film? “Yes, this is my second film after Mahesh Manjrekar’s City Of Gold. We have completed the first schedule of the film while the second will take off very soon. It’s an amazing experience to work with so many talented actors,” says Karan with a smile that brightens up his face. Karan has come a long way from being just another actor on screen to bagging a lead role, to entering Bollywood. Hence, describing his journey so far he avers, “When I did Kahaani Ghar Ghar Kii, I was another actor on the screen without dialogues. But then I moved on to doing some cameos and then important character and I finally bagged a lead. After that I also tried my hand at anchoring and then films happened.” So are you satisfied as an actor today? “No, the moment you are satisfied, your hunger of achieving more dies down. I would never want to be satisfied as I have a lot more to do and I just can’t take things easy,” observes Karan with all the conviction. Since this artiste was mostly associated with Balaji Telefims, we asked him why he did not experiment with other production houses, to which he says, “I never felt the need to, as I got the respect I needed as an actor. Apart from that, Balaji had also become like a comfort zone for me.” Now that the actor has done both TV and films, which medium he likes more? “I prefer entertainment as there is not much difference between TV and films. A lot of big names have been associated with TV now. But for now, my priority is films. I wouldn’t want to shoot for 20 days a month. However if episodic offers come to me, I will definitely take them up.” Does this mean that the actor has more films in his kitty? “Yes, I do have two more projects but it’s too early to talk about them.” Unlike a lot of actors who have got into the acting business by default, Karan always wanted to be in the profession in spite of coming from a business background. “I always wanted to be an actor, so one fine day I went for auditions. I was rejected twice after which I bagged a role.” Did his parents ever have an issue with him taking up this field? “Never, in fact, my father has been very supportive of whatever I wanted to do.” When one is a part of the industry link-ups are bound to happen and Karan was linked up with actor Amita Chandekar. In fact the actor had also participated in Nach Baliye 3 with her and later refused to have any relationship with her. Is he dating someone now? “No, and if it’s something important and worth sharing I will announce it myself. However the link ups are a waste of time and I do not understand why the media writes about it.” Moving on, we asked him if his mother pesters him to get married and he says, “She was very adamant initially but now she has stopped as she knows my focus is my work.” Further talking about his close friends from the industry he shares, “I have a lot of acquaintances but my true friends are Hiten Tejwani, his wife Gauri Pradhan, Reva Babbar and Kim Ghosh. They have always been there for me.” We all have a set goal in life…so where does he see himself in the next five years? “I would obviously want to be in SRK’s (Shah Rukh Khan) place, (laughs) but then one has to work that way and things have to materialize too. But yes five years from now I would like to work so much that I don’t have any time to breathe.” Lastly he has a message for all his fans, “I won’t be away from TV for too long so just be patient with me. I am grateful to all of you for loving me.”