Paras Priyadarshan: I like to play characters that have energy

In the show, he plays the parallel lead. “I’m playing the character, Neel. He is basically someone who is not from the Birlas family, but he has been staying with the Birlas. He’s someone who has a lot of energy. He’s very youthful. If someone has an idea in the house, Neel will probably be the first person to take action on it. He’s very enthusiastic, he likes to take initiatives and he shares a very brotherly bond with Abhimanyu, the character that is played by Harshad Chopra. They’re there for each other and understand each other well. It’s a great chemistry I’m gonna share with him as well,” he said.

What attracted him to the character Neel was the fact that “I like to play characters that have energy. And I think with this, I get to showcase that.” 

“Also, the fact that he’s someone not from the Birlas family, kind of makes him an outsider. But he’s still an insider. So that makes things very interesting. In the story, there’s a lineage of doctors, but Neel isn’t a doctor which is also very interesting because that creates a lot of interesting situations. There will be situations when he doesn’t know anything that’s been spoken about.”

“Apart from these reasons, I think the co-actors. The fact that the show has been running for so long, the fact that I’m getting the opportunity to work with (producer) Rajan Shahi Sir, all of these things. I love to work with great people. Director Kut Productions is one of the biggest production houses,” he added.

He also relates to his character. “Since I’m young I also think I have a lot of energy. I do like to take initiatives and I do like to do certain things. I’m not a doctor, so I do relate to Neel in a lot of ways,” said Paras.

Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai is the longest-running show on Indian Television, and he is very excited to be a part of it.

“Considering the fact that it has been going on for years proves that the storytelling, the performances, the connection with the audience have been intact for a lot of years. I’m very excited to be a part of this show and very excited to see how and what I can do to contribute to making this show even better,” he said about the show that launched in 2009.

According to him, content is the King.  “If we notice any of the previous trends, if we even look at the very near past…any show that has come up, if the content has not been great, then those shows have been shut down and then have been replaced by new shows. I believe that Indian audiences are extremely smart and they deserve to have the best content. And with the rise of OTT, with good TV, content is definitely going to be the king. I think any kind of creative work, especially in terms of what we do in filmmaking, or TV or OTT, I think the first binding factor for the audience will be the writing. So yes, content is absolutely the supreme king,” he said.

The show symbolizes human values and relationships, and Rajan Shahi is known for his crisp storytelling. 

“I think any kind of storytelling requires human values, exploring human relationships and I think Rajan Sir is a master of that. He’s known for his crisp storytelling. I’m really looking forward to working with him. I’ve seen his shows. I’ve seen glimpses, be it Anupama or YRKKH or even his past shows, but I haven’t gotten the opportunity to work with him,” he said.

He thinks that love triangles make the drama very interesting.  “Love triangles basically create conflicts because they create confusion. I think it creates lots of emotions. I truly think a person can fall in love with one or more people and then I think in those situations there can be a lot of conflicts and a lot of interesting emotions stem out from there,” said Paras. 

Talking about the title Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai, he said, “When I think of the title Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai, the first thing that comes to my mind is that there is no name to this relationship. It’s like labels make things dull. I think not having a label on something makes it interesting. ‘Ki mujhe nahi pata yeh kya hai lekin yeh jo bhi hai yeh interesting hai, and I like having this in my life ( I don’t know what it is, but whatever it is this is interesting)’. So thinking of the title YRKKH, I think of unnamed relationships, having no labels attached.”