Television with Her Sanskaar
by Kashika Saxena
12 January, 2017
ADVERTISEMENT
In 2013, Sakshi Tanwar was named one of the five most trustworthy celebrities along with Madhuri Dixit-Nene and Katrina Kaif. If you're surprised that a TV actor earned that spot, you're probably one of the three people who're unaware of the pop culture phenomenon that was Parvati Bhabhi.
When Ekta Kapoor took over Indian television in 2000, she did so with three TV shows - Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, Kahaani Ghar Ghar Kii, and Kasautii Zindagii Kay - and three strong female characters - Tulsi, Parvati, and Prerna. Sakshi Tanwar played Parvati Agarwal for eight years, and become the yardstick against which people measure sanskaari bahus till date.
Image source
But Sakshi didn't always set out to be an actor.
The youngest of three siblings, Sakshi grew up in Alwar, Rajasthan, before moving to Delhi for her graduation from Lady Sriram College. In an interview, she said, "Coming into the entertainment industry was just by chance. After my graduation from LSR, I was preparing for administrative services and mass communication entrance exams when a friend called me to audition for Albela Sur Mela, a music-based show on Doordarshan." She hasn't looked back since. After working in shows like Ehsaas, Dastoor, Bhanwar, and Rajdhani, the role that changed the course of Sakshi's career came in 2000.
How Kahaani Ghar Ghar Ki found its Parvati.
When author Shoma Munshi interviewed Sakshi for her book, Prime Time Soap Operas on Indian Television, she told her that the moment Ekta saw Sakshi, she told her, "You are Parvati." Sakshi played that role in Kahaani for close to a decade, during which it went from being beloved to mocked mercilessly for being unrealistic and over-dramatic. When the show started airing, women were besotted with it. The story, the drama, the traditions, while amplified, closely resembled their own life, and they'd never seen anything like it before.
ADVERTISEMENT
Image source
But, as Indian TV viewers became more discerning, it became clear to them that Parvati Bhabhi's sanskaar were somewhat regressive and hard to follow, and no human being could be that nice. Still, the show and its characters tried hard to stay relevant. There were makeovers and generation leaps. From a polite, agreeable bahu, Parvati's character became more assertive and no-nonsense, and through it all, Sakshi continued to play her with conviction. "Parvati's character is an identifiable one. She is a normal person who makes mistakes. She is human, she has also told a white lie when it is for the betterment of her family," Sakshi told Munshi.
Since Sakshi and Smriti Irani (who played Tulsi) were the leads of two of the biggest shows on TV in the 2000s, there were also rumours about the two not getting along, which Sakshi quashed in an interview. "People see us as arch rivals. But we were never that. She is a terrific person. She is very down-to-earth. Today's actresses are far more competitive. Smriti and I were neck-to-neck in competition. But we never felt we were rivals. When I bump into my seniors like Deepak Qazir, Neena Kulkarni, Aroona Irani,Surekha Sikri... I acknowledge and greet them. But when I bump into younger actresses they don't even smile at me. They probably feel I am a rival. It's weird. I've been around for 13 years. And I am still competition!"
Life after Kahaani...
After Kahaani ended, Sakshi took a two-year sabbatical. While she hosted an episode of Crime Patrol and took on a negative character in the extremely popular show, Balika Vadhu, she kept rejecting lead roles that were mostly extensions of Parvati, and waited for another iconic character to come her way. That happened in 2011 with another Ekta Kapoor show, Bade Achhe Lagte Hain. Here, Sakshi played Priya, a 30-something unmarried woman who lived on her own terms. Of course, she soon married the male lead of the show, Ram Kapoor, but her character was a far more realistic representation of the modern woman than Parvati, and Ram and Priya's love story was handled sensitively and maturely.
In 2012, an episode of the show practically shook the nation. The reason? Ram and Priya, who were married by then, were supposed to kiss on screen and consummate their marriage. What should have been a regular occurrence became an act of revolution for Indian TV, and Sakshi was equally lauded and trolled.
Image source
Sakshi's foray into Bollywood.
Like most wildly successful TV characters TV actors, she also tried her hand at films. In 2015, she worked in the Sunny Deol-starrer Mohalla Assi, but it hasn't released so far. Last year, she played one of the central characters in the season two of Anil Kapoor's mini-series 24. But it was with Dangal that she finally found the same level of success in films. In one of the most successful films of 2016, Sakshi played Daya Kaur, wrestler Mahavir Phogat's wife, and got a chance to work with Aamir Khan.
But for fans who've been waiting to see her back on the small screen, there's some bad news. In a recent interview, she said, "I am done with (soaps). I did it for years. Now, I would only consider being part of a finite series or agree to host a show." That doesn't mean she's not working, though. She's back with Ram Kapoor in Ekta Kapoor's web series Kehetein Hai Opposites Attract soon.
Sakshi has never been one to give too many interviews. She's not even on social media, so there's very little information available about what she does in her down time. She's 44 and single, so there's also a lot of speculation about her marriage plans, considering she played an ideal bahu for so many years, but she's always maintained that marriage will happen when it has to.
Debate Mansion
Anupamaa
