Model-anchor Keith Sequeira now turns a daily soap lead, playing a new-age Prince Charming. Sidharth Chaudhary asks him if this gamble will work
Keith Sequeira is plotting his graph backwards. From being a “with it” veejay, a hotshot model, a wanted reality show contestant and smart anchor, he is settling into domesticity on the idiot box. He will be playing a prince in modern day India, Madhav Singh Ranavat, on the new Star Plus finite soap love Ka Hai Intezaar.
The new-born actor is quick to clarify though that the series has a year-long runtime with a definite beginning and an end. And having packaged show summaries as an anchor, he knows what to sell best. “This is not the first time that a royal family and its intrigue have been shown on television. But love Ka Hai Intezaar has scale and has been shot in an actual palace. Our sets were used earlier in a Salman Khan film,” he tells us.
But is the content really new given that it could be a spinoff from the pop version of Khoobsurat starring Fawad Khan and Sonam KapoorIJ Skimming over the content overlap, Sequeira focusses on developing his acting abilities in the presence of stalwarts from the industry. “I’m blessed to have such an opportunity. The artists that I am working with with right now are so dedicated that I somehow don’t get tired of working. I see people putting their heart and soul into the project. And the taut storyline is worth investing my time,” he says.
His modelling experience of playing the complete man in a series of ads for a fabric giant has stood him in good stead. “That helped a lot as I knew how to carry myself as this character. I also stayed with the locals of Rajgarh and sort of tried to understand their daily problems to get a hold of the ‘Raja/Praja’ concept,” he reasons.
Sequeira says he decided to do fiction rather late in the day because the industry is going through a shakeout and is highly content-oriented. “It is not possible to engage the viewer in plots that would go on for five or ten years with unwanted twists. Our show has a brief structure that will end in its due course of 10 years.”
The initial promos of the show are out and already his look is being compared to Fawad’s in Khoobsurat. But he is rather sporting. “Fawad is a really good-looking guy and has that royal charm. So instead of dissing away the comparison I would say yes, my look sure does seem to be inspired by him,” he squares off.