Long after she literally became the toast of TV watching audience with Saas Bina Sasural, Aishwarya Sakhuja is back to fiction with SAB TV’s series Khidki . In between Aishwarya hosted reality shows like Nach Baliye and participated in Khatron Ke Khiladi . Starting this Tuesday, here as Anju, she will be seen donning boxing gloves. But before you get an idea that television is taking a big leap from saas bahu shows, Aishwarya clears the air. “Boxing is the fun element of the story to keep the audience hooked.” The real issue is still marriage of Anju and her sisters and in fact Anju’s interest in boxing is one of the hurdles.
Excerpts from the interview:
Tell us about the concept of the series.
The show is based on true people and true incidents from their lives. The concept is that we spoke to people, asked them to send us their stories it is with that inspiration that we came up with Khidki. The first story is called Anju ki shaadi. It is story of Anju and her family .Anju is not getting married because she is outspoken, a complete tomboy who does not care about her appearance. She loves to box; it is her passion due to which she ends up hurting a lot of people. It is a true story from Dwarka and it has a Gujarati touch to it. I am trying to speak in a Gujarati accent. .
Will you be seen practising and preparing as a boxer too?
Anju is just passionate about the sport; she is not really a boxer. You will see her in boxing gloves all the time, her day to day routine is not complete without boxing with people coming her way. It is a different role for me because I have always been very prim and proper. Playing a tomboy was fun, definitely challenging but the best part was it did not take long in the makeup room.
Do you think working in shows like your debut serial “Saas Bina Sasural” eliminates the possibility to experiment for actors?
In television actors don’t become popular; it is the characters that become popular. So if there was no Toasty in Saas Bina Sasural , I would not have been there where I am today. I am never going to undermine the power of a character that goes on for years but an actor does get frustrated at times. Shows like Khidki are a welcome change. Doing the character of Anju was a lot of fun for me because as an actor when you do a daily soap you get stuck with one character for months and years. After doing serials, it is time to see whether I have the knack for comedy or not. I am getting to explore it. That’s one of the selfish reasons I chose this show!
“Khidki”, for a change, is a finite series. Is it better for both the audience and the actor?
Exploring such possibilities is the need of the hour right now. You have all the daily soaps and they have worked in the past too. If they had to play safe they would have made a daily soap. Exploring a new possibility is a courageous step. People like me who do not have the time to follow a show day after day will really appreciate this because every week there will be something fresh. The best part is that it is based on true stories which makes it more relatable for the audience. I am a big sucker for true stories. So when you have a show which is talking about these light hearted moments that have happened with real people, imagine the kind of message it must be sending across the stressful lives that we have today.
