I want to focus on films

'I want to focus on films'

Rachna Parekj
Posted online: Friday, June 10, 2005 at 0000 hours IST

Bubbly and tomboyish, Miilee is the new girl on STAR Plus. Newcomer Mona Vasu, a Delhite makes her debut in the serial. We get up close and personal with the actress...

Miilee has made you a household name. How does it feel?
Oh, it's a nice feeling. Would you believe I have a lot of children writing to me. They love my bindaas character. who's always upto some harmless pranks. I think that's because they also would love to do outrageous things but cannot. (laughs)

When did the acting bug bite you?
Consciously or unconsciously I always knew I wanted to act. But since I was not even remotely linked to the entertainment industry I did not give it a serious thought till college. In between I thought of doing interiors and fashion designing but soon outgrew of it. One day I slyly told my father that I wanted to do theatre. After completing my Class 12, I went to National School of Drama where I met VK sir. From there began my journey. Along with college I was doing theatre. I also joined the college dramatics team. I joined Khilona an adult theatre group run by NSDites, VK sir and Kiran who did plays and workshops with children. After that I joined Antara and simultaneously did street theatre in various college festivals. In between I worked with street theatre Sehmat run by Shabnam Hashmi for sometime. That is when I realised that I wanted to pursue a career in acting. I did the episodic Hadsa for TV 18 and one off assignments for for BBC and Tehelka.com.

working in a long-running serial can stagnate an actor. At the moment, I am not looking beyond Miilee

So, how did you come to Mumbai?
There was not much television or movies happening back in Delhi. So after my graduation I shifted to Mumbai and lived as a PG. I got my portfolio clicked, distributed it to agents and co-ordinators. I got quite a few offers from television for main leads and dailies. But I wanted to stay away from the humdrum mundane television because one tends to get slotted easily. So I would do pilots and chicken out last minute. Meanwhile, to sustain I did lots of advertisements like Pears, Life Insurance, Johnson & Johnson, Kodak, Borolene, etc. Then I took up a travel show on STAR Gold on Army cantonments. Despite it being on television I took it since it included travelling. And it was over in 26 episodes. After that followed a telefilm for Sahara.

How did you land the role of Miilee?
Shailaja Bajpai, who is the Creative Head of STAR Plus saw my travel show at the time she was looking for someone to play Miilee. She had me in mind but I refused as did not want to get into television. Also, today television series are long and I didn't have the capacity to shoot 24 / 7. After two months, when they couldn't find anybody, they called me again and I decided to meet up. After hearing the concept I just knew I had to do it. I felt that any actor who wanted to grow could not refuse this role. So I started looking at it positively. I did ads but nobody knew me. And this gave me a platform to show my acting skills. Another thing the character is not uni-dimensional. There is tragedy, drama, romance all possible emotions in the character. Moreover, it is a young and not the sari clad role. Today I am happy doing this role.

Are there are any similarities between you and Miilee?
As far as body language and the look is concerned, I am quite similar to Miilee. I have a bindaas style and my friends think I walk like a gunda. Again like the character I play, I am not overtly conscious of my femininity. Probably it is this trait in me that got me the part. Just like Miilee I too am transparent and candid.

What's your relationship with your co-star offscreen?
Interestingly, Ajay and I share the same relationship even off screen. Every day we fight once and patch up which personifies the show. But underneath all that we have a great level of understanding and friendship. The genuineness in our friendship comes on screen also.

Are you working on any other projects?
Honestly, with tight shooting schedules there is no time for anything else. Moreover, I am under a contract that bans me from serials under different banners on competing channels. What I can do are ads and film. Since I have no time, the contract works in my favour.

What kind of roles would you like to do?
At the moment, I am not looking at television after Miilee. But it is not sacrosanct. I think working in a serial for very long stagnates the actor. Also, after playing a part for long, one tends to become the character and it is difficult to portray another other role. I do not want to reach that stage. As an actor, it is more exciting and interesting to do different but short roles. At the moment I am enjoying my stint in Miilee but I know a time will come when I will get tired of it. So I want to focus on films. Today there is a varied genre of films being made. From big budget to small budget dealing with contrasting subjects, so television actors have hope. Producers with limited money will be willing to take us because they cannot afford to cast big stars. I am open to contemporary as well as commercial films.

Were you offered a role by Yash Raj production house?
I had gone for an initial meeting with the Yash Raj people for a film which now probably Tanisha is doing. It included an outdoor shooting for two-and-a- half months but as I am committed to Miilee I could not go. So the meeting did not go any further. But if given an opportunity I would love to work for a Yash Raj Production.

How do you spend your free time?
With the kind of shooting schedules I have, there is not even enough time to sleep, forget partying. But whenever I get some free time I like to go out. I have made some great friends from the unit so we all have become a gang. Faridaji who plays Mother Superior and Vinnieji who is Hiralal are like parental figures as I live alone here. Whenever we are not shooting we got to a coffee shop and spend endless hours chatting. Apart from that, I like spending time by myself. I enjoy reading, watching films and watering my plants

i am extremely sorry if this article is already posted!