Arjit Taneja: After 11 years in Mumbai, the Dilliwala in me was fading

Essaying a Delhi boy would be a cakewalk thought Arjit Taneja who was raised in the capital But he realised that after living in Mumbai for long he had forgotten the lingo and nuances of a Dilliwala The actor found himself reconnecting with his old self as he began shooting for Kaise Mujhe Tum Mil Gaye In a candid interview with midday Taneja talks about reuniting with close friend Sriti Jha after Kumkum Bhagya their onscreen chemistry and the workings of the television industryEdited excerpts from the interviewFrom being costars to close friends and now playing lovers on screen your dynamics with Sriti Jha is constantly evolvingThe beauty of being actors is that you get to portray such different roles and relationships Aishwarya Rai Bachchan played Shah Rukh Khanrsquos sister in Josh so why not When I started Kumkum Bhagya I was a 20yearold kid It was my first show I was learning everything I used to call her Pragya di Now here we are What are the odds of two friends being cast togetherDo you believe that you two have chemistryIt was something I was worried about Sometimes during a romantic shot I cheat and look somewhere else when I have to look into her eyes Most often we end up laughing Having said that in one of my last shows the female lead and I didnrsquot get along we didnrsquot even say hi to each other but we pulled off the most romantic scenes You cannot vibe with everyoneWhat about a role seals the deal for you Are you okay playing a secondary characterIrsquom not okay playing a secondary character right now especially on television If itrsquos an ensemble drama on web or film Irsquod love to do it because even the secondary characters are given screen space and importance But in television there are no parallel leadsBack in the day they used to have it Thatrsquos how Mrunal Thakur and I started and became popular because of Kumkum Bhagya But things have changed now Irsquove done something for the big screen which will come out next yearIs the wait between two shows too dauntingI feel that after every show you are as good as a newcomer because you have to struggle again to get your next job After Khatron Ke Khiladi 13 I thought I wonrsquot do television for a while because I wanted to explore OTT But this show landed in my lap A big draw to do this show was Sriti She is one of the finest actors we have on TV today I also thought it was the right time to cash in on the popularity I got from Khatron Ke KhiladiYou play a Delhi boy in the show Ranveer Singh aced the act with Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani Do you think you can top thatHis character is from west Delhi mine is from north Delhi Having stayed in Mumbai for 11 years the Dilliwala in me was fading When I was starting out in Mumbai Irsquod say lsquoYeh mat kariyo yahan jaiyorsquo in my dialogues Over time I made a conscious effort to get rid of it Now I have to do it again since the dialogues are written like that and oddly itrsquos not coming to me naturally laughsDo you prefer longrunning shows or finite onesIf I want to do a finite show I will do it But in our industry the longer a show runs the more valuable you become If it shuts down in six months you will be responsible I did a show called Bahu Begam which shut down because of COVID If the pandemic had not happened it would have run for another two months before being pulled down Although no one has blamed me for the short run when you go for auditions it shows on your record There is baggageDo you think if writers are given more time TV content would be betterI do Earlier the shows would run from Monday to Thursday Then they became Monday to Friday now we are on Monday to Sunday We work 28 days a month I hope there comes a time when shows are aired four days a week