Amit Behl
The talented engineer-turned actor, Amit Behl is an Indian theatre, television and film actor. Behl began his career with theatre at school and college level. In 1986 He did his first professional play with Feroze Khan. After graduating with his qualification in engineering in 1990, thereafter he started theatre acting under the respected Ibrahim Alkazi, the founder of NSD (National School of Drama). He thereafter headed to India’s city of dreams , Mumbai and became a full time television actor, Amit Behl inaugurated his career in Indian television in the year 1994 on 15th August with a role in India’s first afternoon daily soap opera, Shanti which went on to be dubbed in almost 43 different language and it is loved by millions worldwide.
Amit Behl has featured in TV shows that have been broadcast on a variety of channels, including Doordarshan, Sony Entertainment Television, Zee TV, EL TV, NEPC TV, DDMetro, Star plus, Star one, Real channel, Hungamma TV, UTV Bindass, Channel V, MTV, Colors Viacom 18, Business India TV, Geo Pakistan, ARY Digital, Zee next, UTN, ETV Hindi and Urdu, 9x, channel 9 Gold, Mahuaa, PTC, Lashkaara, Gurjari, Life OK, BBC, and ITV worldwide. He has featured in some of Indian televisions most loved TV serials such as Kora Kaagaz (Star Plus), Shaheen (Sony); He is currently acting in Kehta Hai Dil Jee Le Zara (Sony) and the weekly serial Buddha (Zee TV) Amit will soon be seen in a crucial role in the upcoming, highly anticipated film, Ek Haseena Thi (Star Plus) which stars the gorgeous Sanjeeda Shaikh and Vatsal Seth.
Amit Behl in Zorawar
Amit is here in our beautiful city of Durban with Epic Entertainment shooting for the upcoming Punjabi film, Zorawar, featuring rapper/singer Yo Yo Honey Singh. The film also stars Pawan Malhotra, Mukul Dev and Achint Kaur with VJ Bani. He says that it’s not your typical Punjabi film. The film market in Punjab has become huge especially in foreign countries and having Honey Singh in it; the project will certainly be a crowd puller. The film is directed by Bollywood director Vinnil Markan who had earlier directed Jayanthi Bhai Ki Love Story for Ramesh Taurani. Amit is excited to part of this film as this is his debut performance in a Punjabi film. He finds our city extremely beautiful and he loves the ocean view. He says that like Mumbai, Durban is a coastal city and there is always certain calmness in such coastal cities. Durban is a definite holiday destination for a family vacation says Amit.
Movies, Books & Everything in-between
While in conversation with the talented Amit Behl, He expresses that theatre is his first love and will always be and he believes that a good theatre production, television serial and a film is born from its script! A brilliant script brings out the best in an actor, with emphasise on the character of Gabbar in Sholay which lives on not only because of Amjad Khan’s magnificent performance but because of the way this character was scripted and created ; Gabbar was only in Sholay for 15 minutes of the film but his character made a great impact and lives on beyond the film . Amit says that he never became an actor to become a hero; he was inspired by actors like Amrish Puri and Bharat Bhushan. Amit thrives in being an antagonist as it allows him greater scope as an actor to perform.
He loves watching Amitabh Bachchan onscreen as he is the epitome of a true movie star who you can watch and never get tired of his films as he always brings something new to the big screen. According to Amit, Ranbir Kapoor is the best amongst his contemporary leading male stars of Indian cinema, he enjoys Ranbir’s array of cinema especially Rockstar which brought out the dark side of the actor ,which he loves.
Like father like son, Rishi Kapoor is one of his favourite actors of yesteryear cinema, Sangam and Prem Rog being his favourite. He is absolutely impressed with Chintu-ji’s menacing act in Agneepath. He wishes he could have played Kancha in Agneepath!
The actresses who left a lasting imprint in Indian cinema are Rekha ji , Madhuri Dixit , Kajol , Rani Mukherji , Priyanka Chopra and now Deepika Padukone , whom he loves watching onscreen and he feels she truly deserves her success both critically and at the box office. Ram-Leela was a favourite last year, and the Ranveer Singh & Deepika Padukone jodi was superb, said Amit. Kangna Renaut in Queen was mindblowing and she mesmerised audiences in this film, so far she had been the best of 2014 to date.
Amit said that his favourite director to date is Sanjay Leela Bhansali who is a dreamer; I love every Bhansali film, even Saawariya. He uses his routes to tell stories with such intensity and passion, Ram-leela was fantastic. I would love to be part of a Bhansali film some day!
“I am happy that Indian cinema and television is being inspired by books by Indian authors such as Manju Kapur’s novel Custody which inspired Balaji’s Yeh Hai Mohabbatein (Star Plus) and Chetan Bhagat’s 2 States (2014) and Kai Po Che (2013). The Shiva trilogy by Amish Tripathi is a great read amongst recent books published said Amit
Indian cinema is growing stronger every year with more to offer each year we just need to embrace the changes and adapt to them and continue creating memorable cinema, serials and theatre. Amit’s advice to you is to never stop learning and never become complacent. We at , The Bollywood Tempest wishes the talented Amit Behl many more years of success and congratulations on completing 20 years as a Television actor and best wishes for his upcoming serial Ek Haseena Thi which airs on Star Plus later this month and for the release of Zorawar!
By Shevaal Singh