You have swung from acting to music to acting. What were you doing in between?
I am acting again, but music is still an integral part of my life. I embarked on a career when I was still a teenager. I started as a model in Delhi. Later, I came to Bombay and got into acting. Then we made a (music) band of boys, and after four years and I got back to acting. I am keen to make films with good content. I want to do almost everything.
How did you react when you were narrated your role in Anupama? And, how did your wife, Mona, react to it?
Rajan Shahi is an old friend. He called me while I was shooting in Nepal for a web series. He said, ‘I have told the channel that only Sudhanshu can do justice to the character of Vanraj. And, if you say yes, I will give you a complete narration.’ I heard him and agreed to do it. Like the rest of the audience my wife hates Vanraj’s character. I am happy they hate the character because that helps them love Anupama’s. All the love and sympathy that Anupama is showered with is because they hate Vanraj. That in a gist is the beauty of the story.
You come across as a callous philanderer and a bully in the serial. What kind of husband are you in real life?
In the show I play a character which is perceived as grey by social norms. Vanraj is doing something wrong by having an affair outside his marriage. Also, he behaves boorishly with his wife. I am nowhere close to this in my real life, because I am a very kind-hearted and calm person. I can't even begin to think of hurting anyone, not even a fly, let alone my wife or any other person. I'm very composed, you can ask my wife! My equation with my wife, Mona, is very simple: She talks, I listen, and obey.
How would Mona react if you behaved like Vanraj?
I don't know how my wife would react to somebody who behaves like Vanraj. Like other wives, she may kick the man out of the house or maybe just leave or give him a stinging slap.
Why are housewives projected as doormats in most serials?
I am not very sure if they are projected as doormats; if they are, I am clueless about why serials project them as such. But, I think Anupama is a story of a triumphant woman. Whatever she endures is because she loves the man blindly. And once she realises that the man is having an extra-marital affair, she becomes a different woman; she is no longer a doormat. On the contrary, she is treating Vanraj like a doormat now, and displaying her innate strength.
