Indian TV star in town

Himanshu Soni – the young Indian actor who starred as one of the world’s greatest spiritual leaders in Zee TV’s historical series “Buddha – The King of Kings”, will be in Thailand tomorrow (April 19) to attend a press conference being held at Paragon Cineplex, Siam Paragon at 3pm.
The event is to launch Zee Entertainment Enterprise’s expansion of its direct-to-home service in Thailand, which will offer a greater variety of Bollywood, television series and entertainment including “Buddha – The King of Kings” and “Jhansi Ki Rani.”
Born in Jaipur, Soni plays Gautam Buddha in the TV series, which captures the early life of Prince Siddharth. Kajal Jain, the top ten finalist of 2010 Miss India, plays his wife Yasodhara.
After being cast, Himanshu underwent extensive creative sessions with both the producer and director to understand every nuance of the character and demeanour of Prince Siddharth. To comprehend the mindscape and tranquillity of Buddha’s temperament, the actor was even given a quiet apartment to help him meditate and remain peaceful while preparing for the role. The training also included intensive fitness training, yoga sessions, martial arts and horse riding.
Prince Siddhartha was born to King Shuddhodana and Queen Mahamaya and was predicted to be the saviour of humankind. Compassionate and uncompetitive by nature, Siddhartha’s questions were not born out of mere curiosity, but of a deeply rational yet philosophical concern for the state of the world that he saw around him. His devastation was compounded in his youth when the wall of protection from seeing suffering that his father had built around him, crumbled.
It was an enlightenment that shone not only his path on earth, but also showed the way forward for all mankind, that would illuminate the world with his teachings for thousands of years to come, as it gave birth to the Buddha – a word that today symbolises truth, peace, love, compassion and righteousness.