Exclusive: Nakuul Mehta reveals decision to do Bade Achhe Lagte Hain 3 was impulsive, says ‘It didn’t take me a second’

When Nakuul Mehta quit the TV show Bade Achhe Lagte Hain 2 in December last year, after being part of the serial for one-a-half-year, he never thought he would be back on sets so soon.

The actor, who had called the previous season, a “satisfying journey” and felt “it was time to move on”, will soon be back with Bade Achhe Lagte Hain 3, co-starring Disha Parmar. Actors Niti Taylor and Randeep Rai, who starred in the show, after taking the story forward post Nakuul and Disha quit, have wrapped up their shoot. Mehta says the new season won’t be a rehash of the old story or show, but a “new world, while keeping the heart and soul the same”.

Talking to us, exclusively, about his return to the show, Nakuul shares, “The last two-and-a-half months have been an anomaly in my life. Wherever I’ve gone, people have told me how much they miss our show and how the last 18 months (of it being on air) were such an integral part of their lives. Some even insinuated that, I have taken away joy from the lives,” he quips, adding that it “feels amazing, as an artiste, to feel so much love”.

The makers decided to bring him and actor Disha Parmar back as Ram and Priya in a new season of the show. “They thought it would be amazing to get us together to play the respective roles in a new world and give the audience something to cheer about,” he says.

Nakuul admits that it was not a surprise. “When I got the call, I was not shocked because I saw how people had reacted to us moving on and like on an impulse, I felt it was the right thing to do. It didn’t take me a second to question what I thought was a great opportunity. It’s a show I take great pride in. I have complete ownership of it and the show has been such a beautiful ride for me personally, that I felt it would be a fitting tribute to give to our audiences – to come together and do this one more time. It came from a great place where I felt & the channel too wanted to give a homage to the show we had done and the love we had received for the characters we played,” he explains.

Nakuul admits that this was not in his scheme of things for this year. “There were things I was contemplating, I wasn’t looking for looking at getting back on television, but this is a show which I own. And it would be for a finite engagement. So, I can figure out life and other engagements. Hence, it took all this while to come to a consensus and figure out, but the decision to do the show was absolutely impulsive,” he shares.