Karan Wahi: I wanted to be happy as well as make money

In 2004 he became an overnight star with his first show Remix While Karan Wahi initially enjoyed the flurry of projects and popularity that followed he eventually realised that the television projects hardly creatively satisfied him After trading fiction shows for nonfiction offerings the actor finally found his groove in digital entertainment Wahi dissects his 18year career as he sits down for a chat about his upcoming ZEE5 web series Never Kiss Your Best Friend season 2Wahi director Harsh Dedhia and Anya Singh in LondonEdited excerpts from the interviewWhy have you cut down on fiction showsWhen you start your career you think less and work more But as soon as you do something that becomes big you start thinking hard about the kind of projects you want to do because you become critical of your work In 2012 I left fiction shows because I couldnrsquot cope with 30 days of work every month My health was going for a toss The only time I would get to myself is probably when I was driving back home At that time I tried my hand at being an anchor Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa in 2012 set the ball rolling for nonfiction The second reason for my decision was that I had reached a point where I could ask questions and get answers and not just work because there is a telecast the next day When doing fiction shows I used to make a lot of money but the reason I walked away was that I wanted to be happy as well as make moneyIs OTT entertainment creatively liberating in that regardI jumped on the OTT bandwagon way before the medium took off I did not start off with Sacred Games 2018 I had done a show called Bar Code but it took a long time for Hungama to release it I think I have done more shows on OTT than on television now The last few years have also seen a change in OTT entertainment you see an influx of film stars While it is a great opportunity not every show on OTT is as good as we think it isYoursquove played supporting roles in most shows Werenrsquot you hungry for lead rolesThere are times when the makers might not perceive me as the lead My job is to perform something I like to the best of my ability I would rather do a character I enjoy than play the lead out of ego It doesnrsquot bother me Irsquom grateful that after 18 years in the industry I am still relevantWhen did you first realise thisFor a long time I was working only for the money When I first said no to a project I didnrsquot believe in I was depressed for a month Saying no was hard initially but after that I learned to live in that scenario Early on I was happy being referred to as the chocolate boy or the boynextdoor But I got more congratulatory calls for my role in Sacred Games than I did for Remix Many told me that I had played my part with conviction That changed the game for me Suddenly people were talking about my work and not my looks That is what you want to hear as an actorYou have Never Kiss Your Best Friend season 2 coming upI had signed this show before the lockdown In the times of thrillers and gaon khede ki stories here is a light romcom which a lot of youngsters will relate to The OTT platforms need a little romance because we Indians loved our romance dramas in the rsquo90s That drew me to the showWhat happened to your plans of producing a show with Rithvik DhanjaniWe are producing Blackboards for ALTBalaji Almost 70 per cent of the show is shot We will wrap up the shoot by the first week of March and are hoping for an August release Rithvik is the showrunner and is completely invested in it