When Mihir Virani -- scion of the Virani empire in the superhit television soap Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi -- died in a car crash, India wept.
To this day, Amarr Upadhyay -- Mihir for his countless Kyunki fans -- can't believe he was at the centre of such adulation.
"But now Mihir is behind me. I can never go back to playing that character. It was an essential part of my growth as a human being and an actor," says Upadhyay.
Amarr seems more flabbergasted than furious by rumours that he has been angling for a place in the soap that made him a household name.
"I don't know where all this talk of my return to Kyunki... originated. If I had any desire to return, why would I have left the serial in the first place?" he asks.
"I've heard that I'm keen to return, if not as my original character then as Mihir's grandson named Mayank. Who on earth is Mayank? And where did that come from? When I read myself saying I want to play this character, I asked my wife [who follows the serial religiously] who Mayank was. I've never heard that name, so how could I say I'm going to play that character?"
"I think some of our journalists should take to writing serials. Their imagination is more fertile than the soap writers".
"Let me state once and for all that after I left I never wished to be back in Kyunki... That remains unchanged. I'm happy to be back with Ekta Kapoor's Balajee Telefilms to do two serials Kkusum and Kasauti Zindagi Kay. I'm in negotiation with another major production house for a daily soap," he informs.
In-between his efforts to make a movie career and to re-establish himself on television, Amarr did Sahara's daily Saathiya, which failed to take off, lending credence to the belief that TV stars do not get a second chance.
Didn't Parmeet Sethi, Mihir Mishra, Sudhanshu Pande and Shekhar Suman ruin their promising careers on telly in pursuit of a larger canvas?
Amarr's vehement denial of the role that made him so popular replicates the indignant responses of Aneeta Kanwar and Priya Tendulkar. Tyepcast in viewers' minds as Lajjoji in Buniyaad and Rajani in the serial Rajani, the actresses made vain efforts to consolidate their positions on the big screen.
Parmeet Sethi gave up a thriving career on television to pant after Twinkle Khanna in a walk-on role in Mela. Today he is reduced to playing second fiddle to Apoorva Agnihotri in Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahin.
For now, Amarr Upadhyay too has to be content playing less than the main lead. Will he be second-time lucky?
"I should hope so. It isn't as though I've abandoned my career plans in movies. I just chose wrongly," he says.
He also denies that he acted pricey with movie producers. "I don't know who spread these rumours about me throwing attitude and asking for astronomical sums of money. It was the other way around. Some of my movie producers failed to pay up after agreeing to a certain price."
