Talking Point With Ronit Roy

Will you be cooking on the show?
A bit,but there will be a master-chef who will teach dishes that can be prepared in a short time. We are going to rustle up some interesting on-the-go recipes. Apart from that,a dozen of leading ladies of the channel’s shows will compete to prove their mettle in the kitchen. There will also be some games like hide-and-seek and treasure hunt. I am,of course,the MC (master of ceremonies).

Have you ever entered the kitchen in real life?
Yes. There was a time when I used to cook everything,specially Italian food. I used to make different kinds of pastas. My favourite is red-wine risotto. It is a difficult dish to make. It can get messed up in less than 20 seconds if you are not careful.

Your other show Bandini is reportedly going off-air. Is it true?
I have been hearing this for the last eight months. Frankly,there’s never been any talk of it going off-air either from the channel’s or Balaji Telefilms’ (producers) end. Bandini is rocking and now we are shooting a new track,which has some exciting things happening in it.

You catapulted to fame as Mihir Virani and later as Rishabh Bajaj. But your character Dharamraj (in Bandini) is not as popular.

On the contrary,he is more popular,specially among the male audience. I have doctors,bankers and stockbrokers coming up to me and telling me they are addicted to the show.

How would you compare the three roles?
It’s unfair to compare the three because the stories and characters are completely different. The challenge lies in setting up the character. You have to work on the body language,diction and other factors. But after a point,the challenge goes out of it. It becomes a part and parcel of you.

Is there any other serial in the pipeline?
No. I have got a couple of film offers and I am going through the scripts. There’s Udaan,which was screened at the Cannes Film Festival. The film is about a father-son relationship. I play the father. When I read the script,I wasn’t very keen on it as there was a lot of meanness to his character. However,we have added new dimensions to the role,which has now shaped up differently.