Bollywood Bowled Him Over

He went to Mumbai with stars in his eyes, but came back a disappointed man. Nevertheless, this missed-the-tinsel-town-bus Delhiite, Shiv Kumar, remains a happy and an otherwise successful man today. “The amount of struggle one goes through in Mumbai is really bad,” he says. Shiv came back to Delhi in 1991 and opened a shop “in Kalkaji which sells mobile phones and pagers and manufactures mineral water called Shiv Ganga. But he still can’t forget his experiences in Mumbai.

“That city made me a much stronger person, I had many interesting experiences and made some great friends,” says this 30-year-old.

Shiv was born in Delhi, but did part of his schooling in Indian Rayon School, in Junagarh district. “My father’s business was based there,” he says. But soon the whole family had to come back to Delhi for economic reasons. Shiv then completed his education at Meadow Brooks School in Hauz Khas

“I went to Deshbandhu College after that, but wasn’t too interested in studying,” he grins. “I was obsessed with films.” It comes as no surprise that he took off for Mumbai soon after that. He may sound like beauty pageant contestants and politicians, but Shiv wants to do something “for my country and people.”

“But what is really close to my heart is the issue of environmental pollution. I wish people would plant more trees,” he says. His favourite hangout in Delhi is Parkroyale’s Float and he loves to gorge on the “junk food at McDonald’s.”

Films apart, his other passion is the Internet. “I chat for at least four-five hours on the Net, but since I do it from the office, my wife can’t find out,” he laughs. We hope she isn’t reading this.

BY SHIKHA MISHRA