Manav Gohil: Our craft gets polished because we work so much

With 40 shows and a few movies to his credit Manav Gohil has come a long way over the past two decades He says the ups and downs of his life that have made him more perceptive coupled with his desire to constantly improve his techniques have helped him evolve as an artiste As he gears up for his upcoming show Main Hoon Aparajita Gohil talks about reuniting with costar Shweta Tiwari after 20 years playing a grey character and the changing face of televisionEdited excerpts from the interviewHow do you view the change in television content that has come over timeThere was a time when I felt that television had become regressive It was something everyone was aware of We cannot completely break out of the frame of TV in terms of the content delivered but the way the shows are being presented today has been a welcome change Main Hoon Aparajita has a progressive woman at the centre she is not a victim but there are some complications The shows are getting technically sounder tooManav Gohil reunites with Shweta Tiwari after 20 yearsAfter two decades in this industry how do you keep yourself relevantI keep working and have been fortunate to get the kind of work I want to do Itrsquos important for an actor to keep improving his techniques I have seen the highs and lows of life and grown as an individual which translates into how I perceive life and characters I learn a lot from observing other actors Luckily you get a lot of rolling hours every day on television so I get opportunities to experiment and go wrong The craft gets polished because we work so muchAlso Read Democracy is fragile now Clinton to Tom HanksIf you could redo one of your past characters would you do it differentlyTo be honest I cringe at a lot of my work But I also feel that everything I experienced has made me who I am todayWhat drew you to Main Hoon AparajitaThe producers has presented it differently due to their perspective They donrsquot wish to make it like a regular soap and want to concentrate on parenting The sensibility of the people I am working with is what matters If I can trust them including the channel and director half the decision is madeYou worked with Shweta Tiwari in Kasautii Zindagii Kay in 2001 What are the changes yoursquove noticed in herShweta has evolved as an actor If you continue doing TV you can easily stagnate because the relationships and dynamics presented in shows are not drastically different from one another But she is approaching the medium as an evolved artiste Shweta and I have been meeting in forums and socially Our warmth and bonding remain the sameDid playing a negative character in your last show Kaamnaa help you shed the goodboy image yoursquove built over timeI didnrsquot want to do the role initially I thought my face had a goodboy vibe but I broke that perception It was not my vision I went with someone elsersquos conviction My character in Main Hoon Aparajita too is not a sweet happygolucky guy He has shades of darknessAlso Read Sumeet Raghavan Subodh Bhaves lsquoSahela Re to have directtodigital release