Popular for television shows like Satara and Kumkum Bhagya as well as Akshay Kumar's Gabbar is Back, Dr. Ashish Gokhale is currently on 24/7 duty at a private hospital treating the novel coronavirus patients. Ashish maintains that acting is his first love but before he made his debut in 2015 he was practising medicine in Maharashtra’s Konkan region. 

"Before lockdown, I would go for shoots during day time and in the night I come to a multi-specialty hospital. I last shot for a TV show on March 14. I miss being on sets, the moment between ‘roll camera and action’ was magical. But I am in the role of Dr. Ashish now. I don’t have to take an effort to be in this role. I have learned it for five-and-half years and done practice too. Because of the coronavirus, I am into this 24x7. I want to save people. I want to help in curing this virus," he said in a recent interview. 

He further added that there is a newfound respect for the medical staff as they are all risking their lives to save the common man from this deadly virus. "Doctors are real heroes. They are the front workers today, they are risking their lives. Now the doctor is God. I remember whenever I would introduce myself as Dr. Ashish, people would say not-so-good things about doctors. There is an opinion that doctors fool patients to undergo several tests just for money. It was a thankless job. After a few days when everything is sorted, doctors will again be treated the way they were earlier," Ashish said. 

For the uninformed, a few days before the lockdown was announced, Ashish said he was shooting for his to-be-launched show Kyu Rishto Mein Katti Batti and had wrapped filming for Marathi film Lagna Kallol.