Mohit Raina: Wanted to do a romantic show for a long time

Donrsquot go by the roles he does on screen Off screen Mohit Raina is a fan of romantic dramas and counts Life in a Metro 2007 among the finest love stories made in Bollywood So when IshqENadaan was offered to him the actor jumped at the opportunity of adding a romantic film to his resume In conversation with midday Raina talks about how the JioCinema offeringrsquos simple yet heartfelt story appealed to the romantic in himEdited excerpts from the interviewWas it a conscious decision to do a romantic dramaI wanted to do a romantic show for a long time When I started working in television I was never approached for romantic shows In digital entertainment I only did one series that had tinges of romance I was waiting for something like IshqENadaan Itrsquos a beautiful lighthearted love story that talks about human relationships Any actor would have grabbed this opportunityHow did the script come to youWhen Avishek Ghosh director narrated the script to me in my head I was on board already Almost 15 minutes into it I was thinking about how I would arrange my dates and was doing mental calculations because I loved the scriptOver time has any love storymdashbe it in movies or web seriesmdashresonated with youFor me Life in a Metro 2007 was one such movie I liked the concept of telling stories of people in one city and how their stories connected despite being from different walks of life After that many people tried to emulate it but it wasnrsquot accepted I wanted to do something like that for a long time Now Anurag Basu is coming with a sequel to itAt a time when love is all about right and left swipes do you think people connect with oldschool romanceI donrsquot think it is possible today Now you know everything about the other person by looking at their social media profile But back in the day yoursquod wait for the person to go out then see what flavour of icecream they are having Obviously life is all about change That was oldschool charm but I donrsquot think todayrsquos generation understands thatWhat is the most romantic thing yoursquove ever doneI got married last year For my wifersquos Aditi Sharma birthday I collected all the photographs that showed our journeymdashhow we met and started going outmdashand made a collage I put it on the walls with decorations to surprise her She was under the impression that we might only go out for dinner So this took her by surpriseTell us your love storyWe met through a common friend There were no balloons or flowers nothing lavish My wife is definitely more romantic than meWhy havenrsquot we seen you doing more workI prefer doing less but quality work which makes my soul happy I want to satisfy the hunger of the actor inside me If I wanted I could do a lot more work and earn more money which is what everyone has been advising me to do but I donrsquot see myself doing that If I take on a role for the sake of it or do something that I donrsquot want to do it will show I wonrsquot be able to do justice to itDo you feel you are typecastThere is scope for more diversity Sometimes the scripts coming my way are similar I would like to experiment more which is not happeningWhatrsquos next on your plateI have completed the second season of Mumbai Diaries We shot it last year