Zara zara hate me, hate me, hate me : Indresh Malik

Indresh Malik the bad man in 12/24 Karol Bagh is happy these days. And why not, after all he took home the Best Actor in a negative role trophy at the recently held New Talent Awards. With every episode, the audience is hating him some more! His portrayal of Rajiv Bhalla has become such a huge hit that people cannot stand him on or off screen! And he seems to be enjoying every moment of it. How did he bag the role in 12/24 Karol Bagh? “I studied in Delhi's Kirorimal College. The producers of the show Seema and Sudhir also studied in the same college. During college days, they had seen me act in various plays and somehow had me in mind. When they were doing the character sketches for the show, they thought of me,” says Indresh, adding, “It has been one year since I have been doing this show, and I must admit I am very happy with the response I have got.” Interestingly, the actor was in the garment business before switching to the entertainment industry. “In fact, I did the costume designing for the initial few months of the show!” he says with a smile. “My wife Leena takes care of the garment business now,” he explains. So how is Indresh in real life? “Well, completely different from Rajiv! In real life, I am very shy and got married at a very early age. I am happily married with kids,” he smiles, adding, “But there is one similarity. Rajiv Bhalla eats lot of paan and has a beer belly and I have paan and did have beer to get a paunch for this role!” Despite not being from the industry, Indresh gets along very well with the cast and crew of 12/24 Karol Bagh. He mentions Manju Sethi, Hunar Hali and Waseem as his closest colleagues. “Smriti Kalra is also a very dear friend of mine. Believe it or not, she is friendlier with my wife than me!” His future plans? “For the last few months I have been getting loads of offers, but I don't want to be repetitive and will take my time to decide on the right role,” says the actor who shifted to Mumbai after deciding to make a career in acting.