Breaking away from his 'good boy' image, Rajeev Khandelwal pleasantly surprised the audience with his recent portrayal as a villain in Bloody Daddy.

"I have always been open to playing such roles, but unfortunately, most people have this set perception of me as a 'good boy,' and I wasn't the one who crafted this image. But of late, with the advent of OTT, in my forthcoming shows, most makers are willing to experiment with my roles. So, I am happy that things are changing for me, and Bloody Daddy certainly did dent my image as a good boy," says the actor.

I have some great memories from St. Xavier's Hostel. I was the favourite student of my hostel's rector. The kinds of things we did in college – from making people eat cow dung cakes to painting the town red to impress the 'woman of your interest,' to colouring the entire college early in the morning before our classes started. We used to enjoy having maska buns opposite IIM, and even the NID college canteen was amazing back then. We used to order one plate and share it among three people. I had an interesting experience of sleeping at Kalupur railway station for two days. My two friends and I once wanted to start a catering business and began delivering tiffins only to our 'women of interest,' but nothing happened, and the business didn't take off. I was asked to leave the hostel, and I didn't know where to go, and I had too much pride to sleep in someone else's room. In my head, I was writing this story to share with the rest of the world that I had spent two nights at a railway station (laughs).

TV has never been a no-no for me. I have always been open to doing TV shows, but unfortunately, whenever an opportunity comes my way, it tends to follow the same set of patterns. They still stick with the basic formulas, which probably work for them. I want to do more TV because I received so much love from that medium, and I want to give back all the love to its audience. Unfortunately, at the moment, it's not offering me anything that excites me.

It happens in almost every industry and has been happening for many years now. One needs to know how to handle it. I feel bad for those who end up being the victims of it, but if you decide to go along with it, it is your call. Every individual should know how to handle it, understand what it is, and not just be innocent and feel exploited. To be honest, when I faced it (the casting couch) I was nervous at that time. I had just entered the industry, and a senior director approached me. I had to keep telling him that I was in a happy relationship (even though I had none), but he was persistent. Eventually, I had to say no to the projects, which was my way of saying no to him. Later, I was told that I had lost a two-film deal (those films never came out, by the way)

Today, we have access to everything within a week, and we have the comfort of watching it at our own pace and time. Though I don't have the statistics, I feel that people who used to watch TV are no longer doing so; viewership must have declined.