Bollywood’s Karan Singh Grover finds his calling on streaming platforms and through art during COVID-19

Bollywood actor Karan Singh Grover is acutely aware that he’s in the midst of a raging pandemic, but he believes that this grim phase has seen an unprecedented digital boom.

“This shift was inevitable … Now everyone is privy to some great content being made from around the world. Our audiences are evolving rapidly too,” said Grover in an interview with Gulf News.

Digital success hasn’t evaded him either. The 10-episode espionage romance ‘Qubool Hai 2.0’, streaming on Zee5 since its premiere in March, has met with glowing reviews.

“Even though we are going through an unfortunate phase, it’s been a good time for creative people. This is our time to claim our place in this world and unleash all that creativity we have … We should not hold back now,” he said.

Grover, who’s married to Bollywood actress and model Bipasha Basu, has taken to painting in a robust way during the pandemic. Connecting his paint brush to a blank canvas and filling it with his own strokes was wonderfully therapeutic for this actor.

“I am currently in a space where I am juggling two professions — acting and painting. As a painter, I am exploring another dimension of me as an artist. She’s my inspiration to all my art and my work,” said Grover.

Inspiration found

Grover and Basu make a fetching portrait as a married couple. They married in April 2016 and have lived happily to tell the tale. Their Instagram profiles are filled with loved-up couple pictures of the two working out and vacationing together.

“If she’s with me, I have this conviction that nothing can happen to me. She’s an angel and that dragon who breathes fire when crossed. So nobody dares to mess with me if she’s around,” said Grover with a laugh.

He believes that he managed to evolve during the lockdown thanks to the sturdy support of his wife.

“Because of Bipasha’s words of encouragement, I managed to spent a lot of time on my own. I began to understand the importance of random chaos in one’s minds. I have been in a self-contained lockdown for a few years now. I don’t go out of my building unless there’s a shoot. We live on the 11th floor and I paint on the 12th floor upstairs. Painting has become so therapeutic for me,” said Grover. He has already completed 15 paintings in the last one year and several galleries in Mumbai are keen to sign him on.

While painting has kept him busy during the COVID-19 apocalypse, disturbing thoughts continue to engulf him.

This self-made actor, who plays a highly accomplished Indian shooter hired by the government for a secret assignment in ‘Qubool Hai 2.0’, believes that humans around the globe are to be blamed for this savage COVID-19 pandemic.

“After spending a lot of time with myself I understood that human beings and our collective actions are responsible for putting us in this destructive mode … Collectively, this is a dark night for all our souls. But we need to rise above it and move forward,” said Grover.

Marching ahead is the only way forward believes the actor. On the work front, he tries to take on roles that he identifies with. In ‘Qubool Hai’s two installments, Grover plays the incredibly endearing character Asad who falls in love with the Pakistani beauty Zoya (Surbhi Jyoti). It’s a star-crossed romance as they come from two different nations, but their love knows no boundaries as they tried to breakdown resistance from outside forces.

“Over the years, I have gained enough experience to realise that it’s much easier to portray characters that I understand and identify with. But it took me a long time to be this centered and evolved. Acting is all about flowing with your emotions and you can do that only if you understand your character well,” said Grover.

So far his life philosophy seems to have worked in his favour. The second instalment of ‘Qubool Hai 2.0’ is also now in the works.

Apparently, Grover got an inkling of how good this series is when his actor-wife gave him a thumbs up after watching the trailer of ‘Qubool Hai: 2.0’.

“All human beings have a filter when they say things and they worry if their words will hurt the other person, but she doesn’t have that filter. She says things to your face, no matter how sensitive and [expletive] I am. She’s the best critic of mine and when she liked the trailer, I knew we had a winner in our hands. She was not wrong and I am happy,” said Grover.

Did you know?

Bipasha Basu isn’t a fan of working with her husband Karan Singh Grover. Apparently, she’s overprotective about him and stresses out about his progress.

“I love to work with her, but she doesn’t really want to work with me … She says it’s because she’s like my protective dragon. She wants to be chilled out and stress free,” said Grover with a laugh.

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Don’t Miss It!

‘Qubool Hai 2.0’ is streaming on Zee5 now.