Sanjeev Satgainya

Kathmandu, March 29:

It all started in 1976. A guy in his early 20s contested for the first ever Mr Delhi contest in India. It was a selection round from different states of India for a mega model contest called India Prince. The guy who won and flew to Mumbai to participate in India Prince bagged the title. Flooded with modelling offers he appeared in every other commercial. Yes, Deepak Parasher hit not only the modelling scene in India but also shined on Bollywood silver screens. Visiting Nepal on a short vacation, we catch up with the actor at Hyatt Regency to know more.

Parasher, son of an army man, graduated from Delhi University and was pursuing Hotel Management from Oberoi Intercontinental when India Prince happened.“I have walked on more than 7,000 ramps in India and abroad,” says Parasher. He appeared in 14-15 commercials too — Nescafe, Kingston Cigarettes, Gwalior Rayon suiting, Vimal (now Reliance) apparels to name a few. “From 1976 to 1979, I was completely occupied with modelling and commercials and I enjoyed it a lot.” In 1979, Bollywood producer-director B R Chopra was planning a big project with then Miss Asia Zeenat Aman and was looking for a new male lead. “He was making ‘Insaaf Ka Tarazu’ and approached me to cast me opposite Zeenat and thus my film career began.” The movie was a hit and more offers flooded in. “Some of the movies that I really enjoyed doing are ‘Shradhhanjali’ with Rakhee, ‘Apna Bana Lo’ with Rekha, ‘Kismat’ with Parveen Babi and one of the wonderful memories of my film life is, no doubt, ‘Sharaabi’ in which I got to act with the living legend Amitabh Bachchan.”

“One movie was a phenomenal success which ran for more than 100 weeks in Pakistan as well. It was ‘Nikaah’ where I was cast opposite Salma Agah from Pakistan.”All was well until 1986 when he met with a major accident in Dubai while shooting for a commercial in a speed boat. “The boat capsized and my leg went into the propeller and almost had to be amputated. I was fortunate enough that after a number of surgeries in India and abroad, the doctors could make me stand on my own legs.” The accident kept him away from tinsel town for almost half a decade.

On recovering, he thought of returning to acting, but this time he was eying television. “The small screen is small to call only but viewers-wise, it has much wider scope. It has wide range of audience, it takes lesser time to reach to them and financially too it keeps one very happy in no time. I love doing television serials.” At present Parasher is busy doing a number of soaps and one of the most prominent is ‘Kahin To Hoga’ on Star Plus. Currently he has

38 soaps.“But I started with the mega soap in Indian television history, ‘Swabhiman’ which ran for 750 episodes and it was a big hit. I chose to do this serial for it has Mahesh Bhatt as the director.”Vacation is a good break to get energised and rejuvenated for work he says and that is one of the reasons that he landed in Kathmandu. “I came on 26th of this month and had plans to celebrate my birthday (on April 2) here but…” work calls and he is leaving on March 31. Parasher, who thinks that one does not need an occasion to visit Nepal, adds, “I was amazed to find the mob thronging to me to get autographs — be it shopping malls, hotels, casinos or while I am walking. I didn’t know these many people know me,” he smiles.

At 52, he still is as young as ever. Parasher even showed a keen interest in doing a Nepali film if someone comes up with a good project. After spending so many years in the industry, does he aspire to direct any movie or serials? “I might but right now I am happy with my acting career,” he shrugs.