MUMBAI: Actor Avinash Wadhawan is currently portraying the character of Gajendra Pandey in Jatin Sethi, Mahesh Pandey and Piyush Gupta’s "Aggar Tum Na Hote", and he is enjoying his journey a lot. Speaking about it, he says, "The show and my role have been getting a lot of good responses and I have no complaints. Gajendra Pandey in the show, is a very influential, rich, and suave power broker based in Uttar Pradesh. He is a very strong and authoritative man and there is no task that he cannot complete once he decides. He loves his family too much and would do anything to keep them together. His character has a dark side, but as his story unfolds, we get to know how he is so caring towards his family. His relationship with his son has a lot of friction but he has a heart of gold for the people in need". I have even donned a new look to play this emotionally challenging role of Gajendra in a debonair style, he emphasizes.
Avinash who is in the industry for 32 years is grateful that audiences are still watching him and showering him with love. He says,”Sustaining for more than three decades is tough but my dedication for work and the viewer's love is responsible for my journey.” Interestingly, during early 90s, Avinash had a great career initially in mainstream commercial Hindi films but after some time he was not seen in the way it should have been.
When asked he says, ”I shouldn’t have let my personal setbacks dampen my professional ambitions. I have done lead roles in films like Ayee Milan Ki Raat, Junoon, Geet, Balma, Papi Gudiya, Dil ki Baazi to name a few. I enjoyed my popularity & stardom & got immense love, name and fame during that certain period of my career. And then came a time when I experienced an emotional setback in my personal life. To overcome that, I left the country, after finishing all my assignments. I would just be in touch with my parents. This was the time when mobile phones didn’t even exist. So, I used to call my family (from wherever I was) and let them know about my well-being. And work-wise, it was not going nice because my manager & producers used to call up my home to look for me but couldn’t get to talk to me. I was in a different zone... during that phase, I travelled a lot in US, Canada & London. Then, came a time when I returned to India and realised that the industry people had almost written me off. They thought that I was not serious about my work."
Avinash then gradually moved to regional cinema and did lead roles in Punjabi, Bhojpuri, Bengali, Telugu, Tamil & Gujarati movies. He says,”My experience in the regional industry was good and what I was missing in the mainstream Hindi films I was finding there. And then came a phase when I started doing television. This medium also showered me with lots of love and gave me the opportunity to play various roles. I have also started exploring webseries & films and I am looking for good meaty roles in the OTT platforms."
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