"I am very much a part of Virrudh" Sushant Singh

Sushant Singh is `like a breath of fresh air' on the small screen. The stern looking suave actor plays a crime reporter and protagonist Vasudha's (Smriti Irani) love interest in Sony's Virrudh. Sushant's intense role of a journo, who goes to any length to uncover the truth, has not only managed to create a buzz for the show but also evinced interest from the male viewers. But like they say in tellyland that `our soap tracks are a knee- jerk reaction; one doesn't know which way the character moves. The buzz goes that Sushant's character is being side tracked in Virrudh, at least for the time being. So, is Sushant taking time off for his upcoming film projects? Or has the rigours of working in a soap taken its toll on him.. Seema Pherwani spoke to the actor who was pretty forthright in a freewheeling interview There's a buzz that you are taking a break from Virrudh?Or is it something else? It's only a temporary break, since I have to travel to London for few weeks. So, right now my track will be weaved in a different way and later we start afresh. Is it just this or are you are tired of doing television? No, nothing else. Things are just fine and I will be resuming back after the writers figure out what to do with my character. You are basically a film actor, and you have refused a number of tv shows in the past. What prompted you to take up Virrudh Virrudh looked very promising in terms of the script and story. It's been more than eight months and we have been able to grab male eyeballs to a large extent. Simply because here the conflict does not just revolve around women or kitchen politics. What's your take on daily soaps? There's always pressure to build a bank of episodes. Most of the times, we are shooting for the next day's episode. Also, since channels totally rely on TRPs, the story lines are often tweaked week on week. So as an actor one doesn't know the fate of the character. Being a theatre actor how do you prepare for your character? I study my role and try to figure out ways and means of making it appear different from all the others. Later I work on my look, clothes and other nuances. Tell us a bit about yourself ? I am a Jat from UP. Becoming an actor was a far fetched dream. But somehow, my family was pretty liberal and hence I could still achieve what I wanted. I went on to do theatre and slowly realized that I had the potential of making it to the big league.. I joined the dramatic society. Later, things just fell in place for me. What other films are you doing? I am doing a film called Showbiz, which shows us the dark side of journalism. Then there is Lahore, Toss and a cameo in Laga Chunari Mein Daag. So, would you vouch for films or tv? Somehow, I find films more satisfying to work on. Also, films give us more time to work on one's character. Plus there are less chances of being stuck with badly written scripts. I find daily soaps very hectic and very time consuming. I find it extremely difficult to juggle serial dates, so I will never give up films. Who are your favourite actors? Pankaj Kapoor,Om Puri and Balraj Sahni Are you looking at any more tv soaps? No, not really. This one (Virrudh) is already taking up a lot of my time