Actor Akashdeep Saigal, who is set to return to television with Ektaa Kapoor’s Naagin 7 after nearly a decade, shares insights into his comeback journey.

“I am overwhelmed by the way the audience is anticipating my comeback. More than me, I feel they were manifesting it. Every once in a while, when I came back on social media, I was bombarded with questions,” notes the actor known for his iconic role as Ansh in the television show Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi season 1 in 2000.

Reflecting on his past, Akashdeep recalls the abrupt end of Kyunki: “Kyunki was going great for me but the show went off air back then due to various reasons.”

He believes his character then was “much ahead of time.” He also did “a lot of work films down south” but the audience remembers him playing a baddie.

On his new fantasy-thriller, he shares, “The role just clicked with me. I am putting all my heart into it. It’s my first fantasy-thriller, so I am all on my toes to step into a powerful world after all these years.”

The 51-year-old calls his 10-year absence a period of personal evolution. “I shifted my focus to inner growth. I am glad to have gotten that time to explore more than my profession,” he concludes. 

They terrorised my kids and mother-in-law, molested a friend, alleges Meena Saigal
Nazia Sayed (MUMBAI MIRROR; July 8, 2015)


At least six people on Tuesday stormed the Turner Road bungalow of TV actor Akashdeep Saigal and manhandled his elderly mother, and a lady friend who was visiting, Meena Saigal, the actor's sister-in-law, has alleged.

She alleged that the mob punched a hole through the boundary wall when they could not storm the front entry gate. "The mob manhandled my children and my mother-in-law Godavari Saigal. They even molested a friend of Akashdeep who was visiting," she told Mumbai Mirror.

Meena alleged that the police were not very helpful. "The incident occurred around 12.30 pm and I kept calling the police control room. However, a PCR patrol van arrived only around 4pm," she said.

The Saigals are embroiled in a property dispute involving Kamakshi House, the bungalow located on Varde Marg in Bandra (W) near Gaiety-Galaxy cinema. In January 2013, Akashdeep's brother, Kamal Saigal, was arrested after a Indore-based teacher alleged that the bungalow belonged to his wife's great-grandfather and the former had forged documents and had been living in the property for 30 years.

The property is estimated to be worth at least Rs 100 crore. Meena Saigal alleged that the mob tried to break things in their house and terrorized the family members. It was only when the Saigals' dogs started barking and entered the hall that the mob ran away. Till late in the evening, the Saigals were at sitting at the Bandra station. The police had not filed a complaint till the time of going to press. DCP Satyanarayan Choudhary said: "Two sides want to file a complaint saying the other has taken control of the bungalow. We will take their complaints."

This is the second such instance of mob violence in property disputes in two months. Last month, a mob of around 100 from the local slums had stormed the Bandra bungalow of Dulcene Ansari, 80, and her daughter-in-law Minaz Ansari. The group threatened the senior citizen when she was alone at home and her daughter-in-law had to call up police commissioner Rakesh Maria after the local police refused to come to their rescue.