| | | | Karishma says she wants to be a genetic engineer | A graduate in biophysics, an aspiring genetic engineer and a voracious reader. An unlikely candidate for an actress, right? Wrong. Meet Karishma Randeva, the face that entertains you Monday through Thursday on Star Plus' Hello Dollie.
A Hill Road resident, Karishma came from Chandigarh a year ago to spend time with her nephew. "I wanted to take a break from studies after five years of studying science.
That's when I heard about the auditions for a role in Kahaanii Ghar Ghar Kii, and also that it was near impossible to get through," says Karishma.
However, she decided to go for it and landed the role of Sonu within two hours of giving the audition. But that was the easy part.
"It was really difficult to convince my parents to let me do the role. They wanted me to study further and with my science background, an acting career was never on the cards," she laughs.
She had even enrolled for a postgraduate degree, but decided to opt out after landing the role. "It's not like I always wanted to act or anything. I haven't even done an acting course. But I thought this was a good way of testing the waters," she explains.
It certainly worked out well. After a successful stint as Sonu, Karishma moved on to the character of Sakshi in Kkusum, another Balaji Telefilms production on Sony.
"Then it was Tia in Kyun Hota Hai Pyarr, followed by Rano in Zee TV's Tumhari Disha." The big break came when she landed the lead role in Hello Dollie on Star Plus.
"Dollie is very real. She's my favourite character. Everyone identifies with her at some stage in their life. She's a typical adolescent, with her life centering around her friends. She has pimples and braces and has a crush on a guy from her school," she explains.
For someone so alien to acting, what was the experience like? "Oh, it's a lot of fun," she says enthusiastically. "It's about instinct, it's about feeling the character in every situation and reacting accordingly," she says.
Karishma also feels that Indian television offers a lot of scope to actors. "On TV, people see you everyday. With films, you never know if people will watch you or not. Television that way, has a lot of reach."
But the name and fame isn't free of pressures. "It's a lot of hard work. Things are very hectic," she says, and then quickly adds," But I love every minute of it. The money's good, the work is exciting, and I have really co-operative co-stars and bosses."
There have certainly been some highs. Like when a woman caught hold of her at the market and said, "You act so well. We watch all your serials."
But compliments aside, Karishma's got her head firmly on her shoulders. "I don't intend to do this for the rest of my life. I don't see it as a very secure future. It's alright as long as you're young and pretty, but what after that," she says.
Does that mean we won't see her on TV anymore? "Of course not. I will do this for a while before I move on. But I do want to pursue science and become a genetic engineer," she says. |
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