'I am a commitment phobic actor'

Having worked both in films and television, actor Eijaz Khan is always delighted to appear on small screen. It is for this reason, the 37-year-old actor has many cameos and special appearances to his credit and is once again ready to mark his presence in daily soaps with the most popular serial Diya Aur Baati Hum on Star Plus.

“It has always been a pleasure to work in TV serials,” says Eijaz, whose association with serials has been since 2007 and has seen the TV industry grow over all these years. “Whenever, Rohit Goel (director of Diya Aur Baati Hum) and I sit together and talk about the TV industry, we realise that things have changed from what it used to be earlier. Earlier, serials used to run for years but today they don’t last of more than two years. If it is really liked, only then does it continue, otherwise there are so many serials that come and go. People hardly notice,” explains Eijaz.

Since, this time too, Eijaz is doing a speial appearance, when Metrolife asks the reason behind doing small roles in serials, the actor says, “I am a commitment phobic actor. When you sign a serial you have to leave everything behind. You don’t have a personal life. Even relationships become a secondary consideration because your work demands a lot of time,” says Eijaz. Quiz him if is he reluctant to do hard work, and the actor clarifies his statement, “If I say I don’t like giving commitment then it doesn’t make me callous towards my work. Whatever project I take in my hand, I try to do justice to it by putting a lot of effort into it. If I was wrong with my approach I wouldn’t have done a single film so far,” says Eijaz, who has acted in films like Maine Dil Tujhko Diya, Kuch Na Kaho and Just Married.  The actor is currently shooting for the film Lucky Kabootar.

Attributing another reason behind his non-commitment attitude, Eijaz says he never had to struggle in getting roles. “I was doing civil engineering when Balaji Telefilms spotted me. I was blessed with good fortune that I got an opportunity to work under Ekta Kapoor and since then I am doing one thing after the other. There’s no end to it,” he says in a confident tone.

Despite his popularity on small screen, these days he is testing his acting skills by joining theatre. “I recently did a play Seduction based on Antony Chekhov’s story which was directed by Manish Gandhi. It was a new experience for me to enact too many shades of my character in one go. In films there’s a chance of retake but in theatre it has to be perfect,” says Eijaz who wants to play a long inning in theatres too.