He may be the resilient ‘Mrityunjay’ of ‘Ek Boond Ishq’, but at heart he is still a Parsi boy with a funny bone. As we speak to Viraaf Patel, we realise he is nothing like his onscreen avatar.
Ask him about his icons in the industry and we aren’t surprised that he admires fellow Parsi John Abraham.
Viraaf says, “I too come from modelling background and our journey has been similar. I started out by winning Mr India. Then did serials for Yashraj like Mahi Way and Kismat. I do hope to share screen space with John someday!”
However, for Viraaf, modelling and acting wasn’t always the plan — he started out in the Merchant Navy.
He reveals, “The credit goes to my brother Minocher Patel, who is a motivational speaker. I was in the Merchant Navy and during recession I was at home for longer than I expected.”
“Minocher saw the spark in me and pushed me to try for Mr India. Mickey Mehta helped groom me for the competition. After winning the competition, I was anchoring a show with Cyrus Brocha and he was very encouraging.”
“I then met Boman Irani who advised me that I should keep adding to my craft, so I attended almost every acting class in Mumbai. After that I got my big break with TV shows,” Viraf says of the journey so far.
