Arjun Bijlani, who was a part of Ekta Kapoor’s super hit show Naagin and starred opposite Mouni Roy, didn’t have an easy ride till there. The actor, who is presently busy hosting Splitsvilla X4 with Sunny Leone, says that he suffered financial issues after his hit show Miley Jab Hum Tum.
“What happened after Miley Jab Hum Tum, I had invested in some things which somebody told me that it is worth investing in, and I was gullible and why will anyone lie, so I did. You’re young, and you want to take a risk, I took it, and then it went boom. So it went boom later, I thought it was growing, but I didn’t know that it had gone boom. I believe that it is happening, so I took that time gap, and I thought I’ll wait for good work because I have that kind of money with me. But then, one fine day it was like it was all gone, and it became 20% of what it was. So then, it hit me really hard, and I was like, now what do I do? I was really stressed. That rough patch was that your investment went wrong, and you don’t know what to do next, but like I said there is no turning away, you got to face it head-on,” he says.
He further explains, “Then I waited, I was giving auditions, and it became like I wanted to do work. Then got a call from the creative of Miley Jab Hum Tum, who was also one of the directors, Mukta. So, she was creative in Balaji, and she was doing a show called ‘Meri Aashiqui Tum Se Hi.’ Shakti and Radhika Madan were doing that show. And I got a call saying that there is a role of parallel lead.”
However, parallel lead was something that made Arjun nervous. “In Television parellel lead bolte hai but pata nahi nahi hai kya hai. So, I was like I don’t want to do it. So Mukta explained to me ‘Arjun, right now you need work so just do it. I know you want to do a solo hero thing, and you waited but just do it, and it’s a great character and trust me it will work out for you. I think you’ll enjoy doing the character,” he says.
He adds, “I was getting decent money. I was like okay I’ll do it, then I came on board, and I remember the show’s TRP was 2 or something, then it became 3, and then increased even more, and it started doing better than how it was doing. Radhika and Shakti were doing fab but then, after the introduction of my character the show picked up even further.”
But things were on their way to change for the better! “Four to five months later, suddenly I got a call one day, and the person said, ‘Listen, your track is getting over in Meri Aashiqui Tumse Hi.’ I was like why? It’s doing well. Then there was silence on the phone. Then they said ‘Don’t worry there is another show that Ekta wants you to do.’ So I was like, which show? So she was like it’s her dream project, it’s her pet project, and it’s ‘Naagin.”
Arjun remembers laughing at the point! “ ‘I think I’m very happy doing ‘Meri Aashiqui Tum Se Hi’. Why do you want me to do Naagin? I don’t want to do Naagin,’ I remember saying. However, he said, ‘Are you mad, you’re the main lead, you’ll love it, it’s full of romance, it is not like what you’re thinking, you’re not the Naagin or saphera, it’s not like that.”
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The actor adds, “Because that time Naagin 1 was going to come and you don’t know what is going to be so I was thinking Naagin. Like you have seen the movie, and you connect it from there. So I was like okay, your conviction and Ekta ma’am’s conviction, and for me, Ekta ma’am had become the god that time. Because I got work when I really needed it through Balaji so I, in my heart, I started respecting them, and I started considering them very lucky as well in terms of ‘Unka paisa bohot falta hai’ that’s what everyone says, and even I believe it. I just went with the flow, I said okay, and I did Naagin.”