VANDANA PATHAK tells JYOTHI VENKATESH that the second season of Hum Paanch failed to click because stagnation had set in.
A.I am very contented and family oriented person. I act on the stage and am busy most of the time. Till date I have never run around seeking work. I am glad that right from the time I did Hum Paanch and Ek Mahal Ho Sapno Ka till now I have had good shows like Khichdi, Thodi Khushi Thoda Gham, Saathi Re, Yeh Meri Life Hai etc. If Hum Paanch had a five year run, Ek Mahal Ho Sapno Ka had a seven year run. Khichdi and Instant Khichdi were super duper hits
Q.Is it also true that you have become very choosy when it comes to accepting offers to act in serials?
A.It is also true that I had become quite choosy. I turned down quite a few offers to act in serials because the money offered to me was pea nuts or I did not want to do just cameo roles.
Q.There were producers who thought that you are too busy with serials to take up new offers!
A.Actually speaking, after Saathi Re, I did not take up any offer to work in serials because I went to America to perform for my plays in Gujarati. I wanted to take a break but then work stopped coming my way because people thought that I was too busy especially because my hit serials were being re-run by the channels, like Yeh Meri Life Hai and Khichdi and Instant Khichdi.
Q.In what way is your role in Main Kab Saas Banoongi special to you?
A.My role as the daughter in law of Bharati Achrekar and Anil Dhawan in Kab Main Saas Banoongi is very special to me because till date either I have played one of the five sisters in a serial like Hum Paanch or one of the members of a family like in Khichdi or one of the bahus in Ek Mahal Ho Sapno Ka. This is the first time that I am playing a title role in a serial
Q.Describe your role in detail!
A.To put it in a nut-shell, the serial Main Kab Saas Banoongi is a hilarious combo of a saas-bahu and comedy as well. My role in Kab Main Saas Banoongi is a switch on switch off child like character bordering on stupidity to the point of being a buddhu. She has to interact with her mother in law on one side and her daughter in law on the other.
Q.Did you need to prepare for your role?
A.I did not have to do any home work to get into the skin of my character in the serial for the simple reason that it has been written so beautifully that without straining myself if I just etch it the way it has been written, it will be good
Q.To what extent do you depend on your writer and director to interpret your role effectively?
A.It may sound a little funny but then I belong to the old school and go to the sets every day with a clean slate and make it a point to follow my writer ads well as director and interpret the nuances of my character. It helps the actors in the sense that the production house has provided every one of us in advance with a bound script. I have heard of channels interfering with the creative side of the producers but in this case I found that the channel guys actually enhance the quality of the show because they have a good sense of humor too and hence they do not throw their weight. In any project, the results will be visible only if you give your 100% to the show.
Q.Would you agree that you are being typecast in comedy roles of late?
A.Yes. I know that I have been typed in comedy roles, though on the Gujarati stage I have proved my versatility by essaying all kinds of roles. It is a question of bhed chaal in the TV industry. If you serve something different and people like it, they will ask for more but there are very few producers like Deepti Bhatnagar who is producing Main Kab Saas Banoongi or J.D. Majethia who has made Khichdi and Instant Khichdi, who believe in doing something different from the usual rut.
Q.You do not seem to work in your husband's films though he is a renowned director in Bollywood. Why?
A.My husband Neeraj Pathak is a director on his own right and is in fact directing Sunny Deol's film Right Ya Wrong with Sunny. Till date I have not asked Neeraj or even tried to hint to him that I want him to cast me in any film of his, no has he felt that he should cast me in any film of his. We believe in giving each other space as husband and wife. The day he feels that I suit a character in his film, he will definitely offer to cast me in a film of his.
Q.When Ekta Kapoor revived Hum Paanch, it did not click. What went wrong with the second season?
A.Hum Paanch did not run in its second season because the audience today is different from the audience of yesterday when shows like Hum Paanch, Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi etc used to click. Hum Paanch was good at that time twelve years ago when it was telecast. The kind of comedy that people lap up these days is entirely different from what they used to like at that point of time.
Q.Would you agree that stagnation had set in the new version of Hum Paanch?
A.Yes. I think what went wrong with the new version of Ekta Kapoor's Hum Paanch was that stagnation had set in and there was no innovation at all. Above all, you cannot forget that the Ekta Kapoor of today is different from the Ekta Kapoor of Hum Paanch then.
A.I concede I have still a lot to learn as an actor. After working with various people I have imbibed a lot of tehrao. I have now learnt top work according to the character. It was Aatish who taught me this. He told me that whenever I select a role, I ought to go into its roots if I set out to perform. My husband has told me that if I believe in the role I am doing I will enjoy it more. From Tiku Talsania I have learnt not to get satisfied with whatever I do. He told me to be focused on my work alone and told me that if I am satisfied, I will only reach a saturation point and cease to learn more.
