He made his debut on television a few years ago and now he is tagged the superstar of the small screen. And is dogged by controversy on his exit from Madhubala Ek Ishq Ek Junoon…
Vivian D’Sena may have an arrogant manner, but the dude is actually charming, humble and a darling in person. He laughs out loud at being called an ‘actor with a wooden face’ and ‘someone who has a lot of temper tantrums’. He explains his side of the story, the reason behind leaving Madhubala Ek Ishq Ek Junoon, his equation with producer Abhinav Shukla, his interaction with Drashti Dhami and more…
When did you first know about the 20-year time leap in Madhubala Ek Ishq Ek Junoon?
I heard of this just about a week ago.
Is the time leap the only reason you decided to back out of the serial?
When we decided to take a leap in time, it was a mutual decision between the producers and me that we should end Rishab Kundra’s character here. It would be unconventional for the larger than life character of RK to age and stand in a corner doing nothing. So that is the reason we decided to end it and I bowed out.
We heard rumours that your temper tantrums were the prime reason that the producers decided to end your character. Any truth in that?
(Laughs out loud) Temper and me? The entire industry knows that Vivian D’Sena never gets angry. ‘Coz everyone knows that I never get angry, no matter what situation anyone puts me through. And if I do get angry, I just go extremely quiet. That’s the maximum I do. I have never shouted at anyone.
As for my tantrums – I heard from a certain section of the media that I used to take too many holidays and the makers had problems shooting sequences due to my non-availability. Let me clarify: My contract says that Vivian D’Sena has to shoot for 25 days and I think in the last six months I have been shooting for almost 26-27 days minimum. Tantrum is when someone works for 10 days and holidays for 20 days in a month. And in those few days he gives the production house only five hours a day. I work for almost 12 hours a day. And if I have to take holidays, I make up for it by working about 15 hours a day before that. That’s about 250 hours.