Deepak Parashar star of community meet in New Jersey

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NEW YORK – Indian American promoters, Dr. Hetal Gor, Minnie Sethi, Ritu Narwal and Nishi Bahl hosted a “Meet and Greet” with model and Bollywood actor Deepak Parashar on Sunday, January 28, at Akbar Restaurant in Edison, New Jersey where about 150 people came to meet the star.

“It was basically for the Indian American community to meet the star and get to know him better and ask questions,” one of organizer Sethi told News India Times, in a phone interview.

“This is our first event and it was a super duper hit. I was pleased to see members from the Indian as well as Pakistan community all under one roof,” she added.

Sethi and her friends wants to do many more “Meet and Greets” with Bollywood stars who women “idolize”, she said.

“I want to bring back those stars that have been hidden, into the limelight again,” she said.

Known mostly for his film Nikaah which released in 1982 and also starred Raj Babbar and Salma Agha, Parashar told News India Times how he became a model in the first place, before he got into the acting realm.

“My dad wanted me to join the army. He also said that he wouldn’t pay for me to go to university, so I started doing hotel management to support myself. Then one day in Delhi, I saw a few people in the hotel waiting for a personality contest. I walked into the room, confident enough to win the title and I did. After I won, my photo was on the front pages of many mainstream newspapers and magazines in India. From there I went to Mumbai and won the Mr. India title,” Parashar told News India Times, in a phone interview.

Parashar was crowned by famous Bollywood stars like Zeenat Aman and Dev Anand, and has walked the ramp 7,000 times.

Since he had already been exposed to the media as a model, it was easy for him to become an actor; in fact, he even got to choose the films he wanted to do, something which is very rare.

“I decided to take my modeling career a step further and become an actor since I was already exposed to the media,” he said.

Parashar then went on to acting in over 35 films in the 1980s and 90s with stars like Rekha, Rakhee, Parveen Babi, Poonam Dhillon, Rati Agnihotri and Sarika Rameshwari to name a few.

He also acted in over 50 TV serials including reality television show Bigg Boss Season 1 though he was evicted in the second week.

This is not the first time Parashar has visited the United States.

“I came about 12 to 14 years ago, but that was only for a short time. Right now, I have been here for about two weeks and will be staying for about two to three months,” he said.

“I thought it would be cold here, especially this time of year, but at the end of the day I don’t feel so cold because everyone here has a warm heart,” he added.

“It is my warm, genuine heart which is full of love and girls are waiting to be loved and appreciated by it,” Parashar said, adding that he thinks it is his personal touch from within that reflects his personality.

Parashar said he will be acting in and directing four short films in New York City.