He is still fondly remembered for his character Raghav Oberoi in the television show ‘Humse Hai Life’, a high-school drama that aired on a popular youth based channel a couple of years back. At the peak of his popularity, Himansh Kohli quit television and plunged in to films with the T-Series produced ‘Yaariyan’. The film turned out to be a success but after that, his successive films did not fare well at the box-office. Not somebody who gives up easily, the very optimistic actor is hopeful about his forthcoming film ‘Dil Jo Na Keh Saka’ getting the same love from the audience that he got with his early projects. In this interview, the actor talks about the film, getting typecast as a chocolate boy, doing television and the constant struggle an actor has to go through.
Ever since you made your acting debut with ‘Humse Hai Life’, one has mostly seen you as a chocolate boy who is hopelessly in love. ‘Dil Jo Na Keh Saka’ seems to present you in a similar mould. Would you agree to that?
I played a rustic character from a small town in my last film ‘Ranchi Diaries’. That was quite a departure from the kid of roles people have mostly seen me in. I agree that I have largely been portrayed as a chocolate boy in my television show and films. But, there are some variations in the characters I have played even though they have some common elements in them. I played a Gujarati in ‘Sweetie Weds NRI’ earlier this year. While my first film ‘Yaariyan’ was about teenagers and their problems, my upcoming film ‘Dil Jo Na Keh Saka’ is a mature take on love and relationships. Jai, the character I play, is very ambitious and wants to make it big in life. He ends up falling in love with his best friend Riya, played by Priya Banerjee. I have no qualms in admitting that in this film, too, I play a young man who is in love. My fans want to see me certain kind of characters and I am happy to oblige them. If I am offered an engaging script and the opportunity to work with a good director I will not let go of it for the fear of getting stereotyped. I am happy to be labelled as a chocolate boy.
You were extremely popular on TV and made a successful film debut too. After that, your successive films did not do as well. How did you deal with failure?
Both success and failure help you grow as a person. You go through several experiences in a lifetime, some of which are good and some are not so pleasant. With success, you do not learn much because it gives you a high but failure helps you improve as it makes you realise something has gone wrong somewhere. Regardless of the success or failure of the film, I am happy that I got the opportunity to work with veterans like Prem Chopra ji and shared the screen with some wonderful co-actors like Arbaaz Khan. I am very happy the way my journey has turned out to be. As far as the underwhelming box-office outcome of my last few films are concerned, I think it is a phase and it will pass. Maybe, I have not given the audience what they expect from me. Hopefully, thy will like and appreciate the films that will come out in the near future.
