“My father wanted me to become an IAS officer but there was nothing that could have turned me away from acting, no not even failures,” says the 24-year old Pavan Kumar who will soon be added to the cast of Mulk aired on Zee TV. His first brush with acting came at the age of fifteen when he played a small role in a tele-film. “Appearing on screen the first time send me into a tizzy. That was when I decided that acting would be my profession,” he says.

It was producer Dinesh Bansal who spotted his talent and gave him one of the important roles in Mulk. About the serial Pavan says, “It deals with the present generation and how they react to the issue of partition. Comparisions with serials like Kashmeer are inevitable. But being a daily soap it has an edge over the others.” Working for a soap is not easy, though. “Yes, there are daily shoots and that could be a tad demanding, for you never get enough time to study your character. But they are popular too” he says in the same vein.

In the serial he plays Iqbal who gets seperated from his family and starts living with his father’s Hindu friend. It’s about how three friends reunite after a long gap of time. However circumstances lead them to face seperation again. He remembers a scene where he had to reel off eight pages of dialogues and enact 15 different expressions at the same time. “I felt a bit nervous at first but thanks to director, Chandu Behl and my co-stars I was able to pull off the act. Infact the scene was okayed with no retakes at all,” he asserts.

Pavan can also be seen in Bhabhi on Star Plus. He has acted in tele-serials like Gharana, Dushman, Jannat and Siski and done commercials for ICICI and Hero Honda. In his spare time he does meditation and even takes lessons for improving his dialogue delivery. Obviously he is preparing himself for the marathon race. “I wish to work in films too,” he justifies his move.

An arts graduate, Pavan did a couple of tele-films and serials while in Delhi which is his hometown. He entered Mumbai with the dreams of making it big. “Luckily I got some modelling offers which gave me a chance to enter the show-biz, here. I know there are many talented people who are still struggling. Apparently there is so much of gliltz and glamour here which may seem all too rivetting to an outsider but this is a rough-and-tumble life,” he says.

He believes it is good acting and not good looks that matters. Its for this reason he looks upon Amitabh Bachchan as his role-model. “He may not have the conventional good looks but his sheer charisma and talent both on and off screen is something which never fails to bowl you over,” he says. He even admires Aamir Khan who he feels never repeats his role. Pavan too has done a variety of roles including that of a baddie in Jannat, the boy-next-door in Dushman, a split personality in Gharana, a lover boy in Siski while his role in Mulk has different shades to it.

“People believe that television stars are over-exposed to show-biz but I think its they who have the right temperament to act in the films “ he opines.