Revealing the real guy behind Jagya...over a scrumptious meal

Click on the pic to view slideshow It is Hornby’s Pavillion at the 5 star ITC Grand Central Hotel, Parel, again but this time my guest is the tall, young and dashing Shashank Vyas hugely popular as Jagya of Balika Vadu on Colors channel. At a height of 6’1” with a lean figure, he reminded me of a young and more handsome version of Amitabh Bachchan. The vegetarian actor is a foodie and relished the Kebabs at the restaurant. He loves to cook and experiment at home with paneer and stuff. “The wife has to be a good cook,” he insists, though there is no one in the scene right now as he puts it, “Girls don’t like me. Even when I go back to Indore, my female friends call me home and leave me with their mothers and go away.” Black is his fave color and his car is also a black Hyundai Verna. He had teamed a black shirt on cream trousers and looked intellectual in his spectacles. As I referred to him as Jagya more than once, he did not mind but rued the fact that actors’ names are not shown in the titles of serials which makes the viewers identify them by their screen names only. After tasting parathas with paneer pasanda and aloo ki subzi, he is too full to go for anything else. “I cannot multi task… as I give more than my 100 percent to the job on hand I would find it difficult to do something simultaneously,” he declares. No Bigg Boss as he would find it claustrophobic, dancing shows he would reconsider but anchoring is something he is interested in. Shashank believes that if you get everything then the craving which makes you work hard for perfection is lost. Is a firm believer in karma and marriage as he feels the need to have a woman about the house, especially since he lost his mother at a young age. Furthermore, he considers himself lucky for having got Balika Vadu as his debut vehicle but at the same time he had the onus of fulfilling the brand’s commitment to high value and acting. which we as viewers, can vouch for as he has done it in a flawless manner. Back home, his neighboring aunties want to feed him, his sister’s sasuralwaale (in-laws) love him and his dad’s feedback includes “Kalke episode mein thoda overacting thi beta.” Here’s recounting an interesting FaceBook fiasco - around 20 fake FBs in his name with his images exist and some of them even exchanged their mobile numbers with some female friends of his and started texting crude requests and comments to them. Recollecting an incident, he says, “One day my friend’s mom from Indore called me up and started her tirade of how I had changed as a person since I came to Mumbai and took up this show. Before I could ask the reason, she handed the phone to her husband and uncle started firing me for texting such offensive matters to his daughter. I requested him to calm down and listen to me but he went on for some time and finally when I got a chance to speak, I told him there were some fake profiles of mine on Facebook and those guys were playing this game.” Gradually uncle cooled down but to this day the girl and her family are not on talking terms with him. And Shashank realized fame comes with a price of its own. According to this young adult, “One has to go through and enjoy every particular stage of your life – like childhood, adolescence, young adult and so on. By making children act in serials, I feel they lose the essence of innocence and charm of growing up which does not appeal to me. There is a right time to do everything and one has to go through and enjoy every phase of life in its fullness.” After a hectic day’s shoot at Naigoan (outskirts of Mumbai), he reaches home by 11ish and goes to bed after midnight, gets up at 5.30 and runs for health, has a healthy diet and is happy working on a nearly 30-day schedule. He observes, “There are no offs in this industry, especially while you are doing a daily soap.” While having dinner, I got a call from my friend in Delhi to whom I had earlier in the day mentioned about dining with Shashank that evening. Being a die-hard fan of Balika Vadhu and Jagya, she requested if he would speak with her. And the down-to-earth guy was only happy to have a telephonic chat with my pal. Shashank likes sweets but avoids due to health concerns but being on Eating Out with Stars means you must have a go with everything edible. He tried Kaju Katli, Chocolate Mousse and some fruits but did not have ice cream. In all he enjoyed his dining out at the classy all-day dining Hornby’s Pavillion at ITC Grand Central and I saw him off with promises of meeting soon for another dinner date.