Karan Singh Grover has discovered a new passion in painting, just celebrated his birthday (February 23) in the Maldives and has a new show out with Season 2 of Qubool Hai. The Telegraph chatted with the looker on all this and more, including wife Bipasha Basu...

Belated birthday wishes. We know you had a great time in the Maldives. Two years short of 40, what do birthdays mean to you now?

They mean celebrations, and they mean that we can go on chhutti! (Laughs) It means being on a beach somewhere and making happy memories. I get a lot of attention on my birthday.

Given that Qubool Hai was so popular, was it a no-brainer that you would return if offered Season 2?

For sure. It’s been one of my most popular shows, the character (Asad) is one I have perhaps worked the hardest on. It’s the same characters in a different universe. There was never a chance of having second thoughts. Season 2 has a different flavour, it has the 2021 treatment.

What, in your opinion, makes it such a popular show?

One of the initial reasons was because of the creator Gul (Khan). She’s unmatched, and very progressive in the way she thinks. Her hard work and her moulding our characters into what they became and still are, is what contributes to the show. On this show, it’s not been about the story, the characters are built in a way that the audience gets to love and cherish them. This is a show I am very passionate about.

What was it like shooting for this season in Serbia right after the lockdown lifted?

There were two feelings, actually. One was that it was a bright light at the end of the tunnel because it gave me a feeling that the world is kind of coming back to normal. The other thing was that there is a virus out there and we had to make sure we had to keep ourselves safe and follow all protocols. There was a lot of pain in the behind (laughs) because of Covid, but we were getting to tell a story we are passionate about. So the pros outweighed the cons.

Unfortunately, I did get infected and I had to stay back in Serbia. Two days before wrap, I tested positive. The whole unit left and I had to stay back for 10 more days, so that was pretty bad.

That must have been very depressing...

Staying away from Bipasha (Basu, wife) was very tough. We don’t like staying away from each other. We are very lame, chipku people! (Laughs) If I meet people like us and they behave like and do things like we do, I will be like, ‘Come on, will you get out of your love now, please?’ (Laughs) But we do the same thing. So our friends must be saying the same about us!

This was a very long time away from each other. We couldn’t be together on New Year and I missed her birthday (January 7), which is the best day of the year. Shit, man! But it was okay because she celebrates her birthday the whole of January (laughs). We actually have a few months of celebrations. Like January is hers, then next month is Valentine’s Day and my birthday, so again that’s one whole celebration month. Then the next month is Ayaz’s (Khan, actor and friend) anniversary and April is mine and Bipasha’s anniversary. So we are always celebrating! (Laughs) It was bad I missed her birthday, but at least we had video calls.

Considering you started off from the medium, does TV in its present form excite you?

I am glad I started off from TV. Some people learn step by step, and then there are people like me who only learn when they go from the frying pan to the fire situation! Like I learnt how to swim because my father threw me into the pool and I didn’t want to drown and so I started swimming.

I am glad I started from television and learnt everything there. It will always remain a star on my shoulder that I will be proud of. It does excite me because at the end of the day, we are telling stories. I know TV gets a little chaotic, and if I play a character for 12-14 hours a day for a very long time, then I get lost in the character. That’s a big problem for me (laughs).

But as far as storytelling is concerned, TV has told some great stories that even films haven’t done sometimes. Television is still fun for me. I look out for edgy characters and something that isn’t ordinary.

Sourced by the correspondent

You have discovered a new passion in painting. How does it centre you and contribute to you as a person?

Painting started because of Bipasha and also because our work as actors is so irregular that we have a lot of time. I am glad I have all that time so that I could discover a new dimension to me which I never knew I had, even though I would doodle on tissues and throw them away. Even in school, I never got good grades in art. I am dyslexic, and the way I see things is different and so I could never draw the mountains and the sunrise and the scenery like one is supposed to. I would say, ‘I am drawing them like what they mean to me’, and the teachers would say, ‘Who cares what you feel like? Just draw the damn thing!’ (Laughs)

According to scientific research, and you will find it online, doing some sort of art every day, whether it’s drawing or painting, it helps you cut cords with everything that’s happened in the day and purifies you to your true self. A lot of miraculous things have happened to me through art. It has centred me, yes, and made me explore myself and understand why I have been a certain way since I was a child. There are so many synchronicities that have happened to me through art... there is a text that I write that no one in the world does, and I have researched this. I don’t even know what it is. I have also got an upgrade... I am ambidextrous now (smiles). I can paint with both hands at the same time, and also write. Bipasha sees me and says I look possessed (laughs).

What’s the best thing about being married to Bipasha?

The best thing about being married to Bipasha is... being married to Bipasha! (Laughs) She’s like an angel from heaven. As gorgeous she is outside, she’s even more gorgeous from the inside. Her aura and her energy is such that it makes everything around her beautiful. I keep telling her, ‘Wherever you walk, flowers will start growing some day’. And she tells me, ‘Don’t tell that to everybody... you sound like an idiot!’ (Laughs) But seriously, some people have that. Her aura is very strong and it’s always in a state of giving.

Has she taught you any Bengali?

I know Bengali. I asked for her hand to Maa (Bipasha’s mother) in Bengali.

And what about Bengali food?

Oh! Kosha mangsho, aloo posto, the dom aloo that her mom makes and chingri malaikari, fish kalia... I love them all!