Exclusive! “If I Ever Cross Paths With Someone Like Rakesh In Reality I Will Literally End Him”, Vishal Solanki On Playing A Negative Character In Parineetii

TV personality Vishal Solanki has become television’s favorite baddie after essaying his role as Rakesh Singh Ahlawat in Colors’ Parineetii. He played a negative character for the first time in his career but he managed to garner all the attention and love in the show. Recently the actor became a part of Ekta Kapoor’s supernatural show Naagin 6 where he entered as a messiah in Pratha’s (Tejasswi Prakash) life who unlike his role in Parineetii, is a pleasant character.

We had a chat with him exclusively to know how was his experience with playing a vicious character like Rakesh, working in Naagin 6 concurrently and more.

How do you feel bagging the biggest supernatural show Naagin 6?

Honestly bagging Parineetii which is under Balaji Telefilms is a dream come true for me for a fact that Balaji is a huge production house. The character I play in Parineetii has been so popular and loved by the audience. As soon as the makers of Naagin 6 observed me in Parineetii, they decided to cast me for the supernatural series. It is a big deal for me as an actor that Ekta (Kapoor) ma’am felt that I would be a great fit in another venture of hers where I can showcase my skills in a brand new show.

How do you manage playing both negative and positive at the same time in Parineetii and Naagin 6 respectively?

Luckily for a while my track in Parineetii is halted and I could shoot few episodes of Naagin smoothly, but in few days I may resume my track as Rakesh. Thankfully the studios are closer so I can go back and forth. Speaking of me playing polar opposite characters in both the shows simultaneously, I would want to say that playing a positive character is not that difficult but yes playing a negative character does require a lot of work especially for playing someone like Rakesh who is nothing but a monster, a man that can be violent and manipulative at times, to play such shades of Rakesh takes a little more of hard work for essaying him onscreen. Whereas Rajesh from Naagin 6 is not that hard to play since I have played positive characters in the past. But yes I would be lying if I said that it is easy to transform into a different character entirely but as an actor, I take this as a challenge and I believe in polishing myself.

There have been incidents where actors playing negative roles would receive hatred on their social media handles since the audience would assume that they are the same in real life. Have you faced anything as such for playing Rakesh?

Initially when I was approached for the role, I was petrified of playing the character because in the start of the show we see Rakesh being a douche to a naïve and innocent girl like Parineet. But my director prepped me by telling me that I have to immerse the bad guy in me to play him onscreen and I just felt that I had to take up the role because I mean who are we kidding, this is Balaji and it would be the biggest opportunity for me, the hatred from the audience is bound to happen because no doubt Rakesh is a horrible person. The day when the premier happened, I missed it for my personal reasons but when I came on field everybody came running towards me and applauded me for my performance. I was taken aback honestly but it felt nice. From that time onwards I didn’t care about the backlash I just continued playing Rakesh, and they say right if people hate your character then you are doing a great job. Surprisingly though as my character proceeded in the show I gradually got mad support from the audience. People have been asking about why is my character MIA in the show, in fact the funny part is the audience would ship me and Parineet together and demand for more scenes of us.

What kind of a bond did you share with Anchal, given the fact that Parineet and Rakesh don’t share a great bond in the show?

The first time I met Anchal, I felt she was a kid of around her teenage years. Every time I had to be harsh with her for the scene I always ended up feeling bad about it and apologizing to her after the shot ended. I felt so guilty of treating her that way even if it was for acting. That’s a different thing Anchal would console me though and tell me that it is alright since we’re just acting for a show and that I should not be hard on myself for my twisted character. Either way I feel bad for playing such a character on TV. I mean if I ever meet someone like Rakesh in real life I will kill that person. People like him do not deserve to live in this world.

After Parineetii and Naagin 6, would you want to venture into reality shows like Khatron Ke Khiladi or Bigg Boss in the future?

I don’t think I would be perfect for Bigg Boss because firstly I’m introverted and like keeping to myself, secondly I despise fighting. I don’t think I’ll sustain for a longer time in the show for I may not deliver the things that the audience would want to see. Otherwise I think I will be a great fit for Khatron Ke Khiladi because I’m a sucker for thrill and adventure. I held a snake a couple of times and lived around creepy crawlies, its very safe to say that I’ve lived my life as Bear Grylis in Man Vs Wild. If I would be given an opportunity to participate in the show then I will definitely take it up without any hesitation. It will help me because I fear nothing in life and a show like this would be a cake walk for me.

Don’t forget to watch Vishal Solanki as Rakesh Singh Ahlawat in Parineetii as well as Rajesh Pratap Singh in Naagin 6 on Colors.