Arjun Bijlani: Don’t want anyone to look down on my capabilities

There is no dearth of roles for Arjun Bijlani but he prefers to pick and choose The actormdashwho became a household name with popular shows like Left Right Left Miley Jab Hum Tum Meri Aashiqui Tum Se Hi and Naaginmdashtook a break from fiction shows in 2019 to explore digital entertainment Now he is back on the small screen with Pyaar Ka Pehla Adhyaya Shiv Shakti In conversation with midday Bijlani talks about how the show is inspired by the story of Lord Shiva and Parvati and fighting the prejudice against television actorsEdited excerpts from the interviewPyaar Ka Pehla Adhyaya Shiv Shakti is a retelling of Shiva and Shaktirsquos story Have you read the original story of Lord Shiva and ParvatiAs a child Irsquod always watch shows based on Lord Shiva In addition my mother would often tell me stories about Lord Shiva Prateek Sharma producer had explained how the show is connected to the mythology That helped me a lot I donrsquot read a lot of mythology but Irsquom religiously inclined My mom has been insisting that I read the Bhagavad Gita I plan to start next monthWhat convinced you to come on boardMy character Shiv is a neurosurgeon who is the best at his job However an incident changes him I thought this would be a great opportunity to explore myself as an actor I took up the role because it was challenging Also my motherrsquos name is Shakti Doing this show was a part of my destiny Today whatever I am it is because of my mother I lost my father at a crucial stage of my life She became my shakti Irsquom glad my gamble paid offAfter Ishq Mein Marjawan did you stick to hosting shows because you were creatively saturatedI also did State of Siege 2611 2020 and Roohaniyat 2022 in the interim Along with Shiv Shakti I was offered another web show But I opted for the daily soap because I felt the character gave me a wider scope for performance Sometimes creativity is restricted in television but thatrsquos the audience and rules you have to work with I eventually became okay with who I am After doing fiction for a long time I needed a break Because I did web shows doesnrsquot mean I wonrsquot do television and vice versa I want to be an actor who by 50 would have done it allThe overthetop scenes in daily soaps often make people cringe Have you ever objected to logicdefying scenesI have objected to bizarre scenes But everything is relatedmdashwhen you have better budgets you get better writers As an actor if you keep objecting to things every day yoursquoll be termed unprofessional Sometimes you can take creative liberty because the audience once in a while likes those scenes With daily updates how can one expect the writers to create something new They donrsquot have the timeDo you get stereotyped as an actor on televisionLuckily people call me for web series auditions even though I do TV The gap between TV and films is reducing A lot of actors on television are doing amazing things on the web The day I get a big opportunity in films or a big web show things will turn around For instance I played Sandeep Unnikrishnan in State of Siege which was one of the most watched showsIn an interview you had said that you didnrsquot want to play a best friend or supporting character in films But you have a cameo in Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem KahaaniIdeally I want to take up a character that adds value to a film I have proved myself in the past few years so I deserve a substantial role I donrsquot want anyone to look down on my capabilities That said I did a special appearance in Rocky Aur Ranihellip because Karan Johar called me