Screen is a screen, whether big or small, says Farhan Akhtar

Oct 1, 2015 IANS

Mumbai, Oct 1 (IANS) He's yet another actor trying to balance the worlds of television and movies. Back to the tube as a host of new reality show "I Can Do That", Bollywood's multi-faceted talent Farhan Akhtar says the medium hardly matters when the purpose is to entertain the audience.

“Be it theatre, TV or films, we are all one family. It’s not about being on television, eventually it’s a screen. We are here to be engaged with people and I’m pretty excited about doing it," Farhan said at the launch of the new Zee TV show here on Wednesday.

Farhan, who's a successful actor, writer, director, producer and singer, said he has never been sceptical about featuring on the small screen every time an "exciting" offer came up.

"When I’m not seen on this medium, it’s not that I don’t want to come on TV. It’s because I have to be excited about what I’m doing on television. It happened twice in the past when I was excited, and I’m excited about every part of this show,” added the actor, who came as a judge on a past season of “Nach Baliye” and hosted a chat show “Oye! It's Friday!”.

The 41-year-old said he found the concept of "I Can Do That" -- in which celebrity contestants take up new and innovative challenges every week -- very "interesting”.

“It’s a new thing on Indian television. Viewers in India have not experienced yet it. The contestant’s job is very difficult. I’m just playing the host which is pretty easy, but doing tasks is not at all easy,” he said.

Farhan is also willing to explore the fiction genre on the small screen.

"I’m hoping to experiment everything. I can’t say that I have anything concrete that I can share, but TV is a very powerful medium, something that goes directly to people’s house in order to engage and entertain them. If something comes my way in future, then I might do it," said the son of cinema veterans Javed Akhtar and Honey Irani.

Has there been a time in his life when he said to himself 'I can do that'?

The “Bhaag Milkha Bhaag” actor said: “The first time when I said ‘I Can Do That’ to myself was when I decided not to go to college. That was the time when I said it because genuinely I didn’t have any interest in studies as films were my profession.

"Then when I started writing, I penned the story of ‘Dil Chahta Hai’ and I decided that if somebody has to direct this film it has to be me, because nobody can direct this film better than me. I genuinely felt it."

“I Can Do That”, which will be aired on Zee TV starting October 17, will feature celebrities like Dino Morea, Gauahar Khan, Gurmeet Choudhary, Meiyang Chang and Bharti Singh among others. The Indian version of the internationally acclaimed reality format will feature these celebrities stepping out of their comfort zone to do various tasks.