Articles Archive - Page 19

HOW NEHA MARDA SURVIVED BALIKA VADHU

I have seen most people struggle a lot to achieve their ambitions and many of the times they are not even close to what they may have wanted to achieve in the first place. Then there are those who get what they want, without even having to struggle or plan much. For them, everything just falls into place. These are God's own children. If you meet television's latest hot property, the cherubic-faced Neha Marda, who is currently playing the zombie-like Gehna in Balika Vadhu, you will instantly recognize her as destiny's child.

She has been in the right place at the right time, doing the right thing, and it's not even taken her years to achieve all this. That's what makes her all the more enviable.
Like any other normal girl her age, Neha was studying and giving exams. She never really aspired to become a popular prime time face on television. Instead of acting, her interests lay in dancing, which she started from the age of three, and you will be surprised to know that she has completed nine years in Bharatnatyam, seven in Kathak, four in Jazz and three years in Salsa.

"I come from an orthodox Marwari family, born and brought up in Kolkata, though originally from Rajasthan. I won my hatrick in Boogie Woogie and was a runner up in Kaboom. But I was not a professional dancer. It was because of Boogie', that I got noticed in the media and the Sahara people called me for the audition of Saath Rahega Always.

I remember giving my 11th standard final exams then. I didn't know at that point of time if I could even act, but I went ahead and Saath' became the flop show of the year. It shut down soon. So I returned back home as I thought it wasn't my cup of tea. I delved into studies. Again I got a call for Ghar Ek Sapna and then I did Ek Thi Rajkumari for a year. This time the complete channel went off air!" she giggles.

After much laughter, we continue and she tells me that though she started her career sometime back, it is thanks to Balika Vadhu's success that she has become a household name. Like her career, clinching the role of Gehna has also been a matter of chance. "It just happened. I knew someone from the production house.

That lady always used to ask me to come and audition for new shows whenever there was a role, but nothing would ever work out. Either the channel would say no, or the character would not fit. I remember I was out with my friends and she had called me once after Ek Thi Rajkumari went off air and asked me to drop in the office for coffee. She told me about Gehna's character. I thought at that time that this character is so nice! She asked me to audition for it and I told her 'Are you mad? I can't do something like that. It's a very theatre-actor kind of a role.' I just couldn't see myself as Gehna. I am very bubbly, chirpy and I cannot stop talking and this character doesn't talk at all. It wasn't possible. But she convinced me to give the audition. At the end of my audition, I saw tears coming out of her eyes and she told me that she had got her character."

Clearing the audition may have been a piece of cake for her, but once the tape was sent to the channel and Neha was on board, the tougher part of her job began. "I did a lot of workshops, scripting and sittings with the writer. I used to sit aloof on the sets. I wasn't allowed to even talk on my cell phone. My co-actors also helped me a lot. They would never disturb me in the room; would just leave me alone. Even music wasn't allowed. Nothing at all.

I would go into depression myself!" she reveals. Thankfully, it paid off with Balika' being the most popular soap and now things are better as she is no more subjected to isolation on the sets. "The first three months were like torture for me. I was forced to watch the DVD of Bandit Queen the whole day. This is how I worked on the character. I didn't want to work like this but I was made to work," she recalls with a shudder.

Apart from Balika' Neha also starred as the lead in Jo Ishq Ki Marzi Woh Rab Ki Marzi on Sahara. But the show soon changed its look and has been revamped and renamed as Kismet Connection. There were rumours that though the show has just started, its rural feel didn't go down too well with the audience and then there were the dismal TRPs that posed as a problem.

When I ask Neha what exactly went wrong with it, I am surprised to find that she is as informed as me about the changes in the serial. "It's a big question mark in my mind too! Within a week it was revamped. I have been traveling for my shoots from here to there. I barely have time to sit down with my creatives to talk about the show and my character. A very important question has been left out ' I myself am keen to ask the people why they revamped the show. I am sure this wasn't preplanned. Maybe they think this era will work more than the era of the earlier one or maybe the show wasn't getting the required TRPs. Even I am clueless about this; I don't know," she says earnestly.

It doesn't bother Neha that her show has abruptly undergone colossal changes. She may not know the reason for the change, but as an actor she is calmly doing her job. Her character in the new Kismet Connection is unlike anything she has ever attempted before on-screen and she is nervous about her 'contemporary' look. How is she managing it?

"When it comes to liking the western look, for two-and-a-half years of my shooting, I have only been wearing lehengas. Right from Ek Thi Rajkumari to Balika' to Jo Ishq', I have been completely wearing this attire. This is something which I am too comfortable in. Now that I am shooting in modern clothes for Kismet' many a time I catch hold of my dress or skirt as though it's a ghagra and I have to remind myself that this shouldn't be my body language! Wearing lehengas is not me. I pretty much wear shorts and skirts off screen. But I, as in Neha, is not on screen!"

And it only isn't the wardrobe. Juggling two dailies is no mean feat and I ask her which role is more challenging. She has been accused of favouring Balika' over Kismat', while the latter has been getting the step-motherly treatment. But Neha insists she is adept at handling both shows. "Nothing to stress about. I am just adjusting well. There are problems but it's okay. If I want to do something, I have to do it. In Balika' I have to work on the character of Gehna. Gehna is not Neha. Being Naina is all about being myself in Kismet' It's not too much of work. So in one show I play Gehna and in the other show I am myself."

Moving on from her serials, we come to her personal life. I had read recently that Neha was looking forward to getting married in an arranged marriage set-up and has asked her mother to find her a suitable groom. All of 21, I find it difficult to digest that this young actress is ready to give up her blooming career and settle down so early in life.

She laughs about it and says, "That's very subjective, the way people take it. Like I said, I belong to a very orthodox family, so from childhood, I had this one thing in mind, that I would get married by 21. My plans changed at 18, with work and all. But now that I am 21, I was just thinking of this; who will I get married to? So I asked my mom to start looking for guys for me. I am single and don't have anyone.

I didn't have time to pay attention to any guy till now. I didn't find anyone special so I asked her to go ahead and find someone for me. I feel that at least a year will pass till she finds a decent guy for me, then another year after the engagement. So then by the third year, I can finally get married." I tell her that idea is very strange and she nods, "Even my mom doesn't want me to get married right now. She thinks I am too young and tells me to explore myself. But I tell her, 'No mama, I love the whole feeling of getting married.' And I totally believe that if I get married, I won't be working ahead!"

Since the topic settles on marriage, I ask her about her relationship with a certain Imran Mir. There have been reports that Neha is secretly dating and has kept this relationship under wraps. And the man in question is none other than the Executive Producer of Kismat Connection, Imran.

Apparently, the two of them click very well together and Imran is seen taking care of Neha on the sets. She vehemently dismisses this link up and bursts into more laughter. "This is the joke of the year. It must be for the promotion of the show. You need to work on the script, presentation and characters for a serial to succeed; it is not important to promote the show like this. But if they believe in it, then they should go ahead."

I ask her, if it is a promotional strategy for the show, then why wasn't she linked to the main lead Neil Bhatt instead? She reasons, "I never give any bhav to Neil. I call him bhai at times. As far as the linkup with Imran, I have one reason for sure. I knew this guy from the time of my first show, Saath Rahega Always. This is the only way; to link me up with him, because even on Balika' I don't have anyone." After a pause, she continues, "I guess there must be some reason, I don't know. But I have never been keen to clear it up.
Every day, there are people calling and asking, but what am I to answer? Don't I have any other option in life than to go for Imran Mir?" she says with a naughty smile.
I ask her if she has had a word with Imran about these rumours. "I haven't spoken to him about this. One fine day, when he had heard about this rumour for the first time, he called me up randomly. He is married; in fact I am very good friends with his wife Nazia and not him. But I am cool about it.

Even my mom didn't react because we know how it is. If I like somebody, I will definitely open up and say. I am the kind of girl who is saying that she wants to get married, so why will I hide the guy I love? Age and all that doesn't matter to me. If I like somebody, I will just go ahead and do my bit." When I remind her about her orthodox family background, she shoots back, "Even though I come from an orthodox family, my mom is okay with it because she has taken such a big step by letting me work in this industry and stay alone in Mumbai. I won't hide it; she herself has told me that if I like somebody I should let her know."

Every television actor's ultimate ambition is making it big in films. When I ask her about her film aspirations, Neha paints a different picture, "I have got a number of offers for films down south but I have never been there. I am not interested in films. It has to be really precise and appealing." And what about Bollywood? Surely, she won't shrug it off if something interesting comes her way right? "I am not looking for a Yash Raj or Ram Gopal Verma film.

I am okay doing meaningful cinema. If I get it or not, it's not a big deal. Everyone has their own genre. If you are a superstar in films, you may not be one on TV and vice versa. It's very subjective," says the Kareena Kapoor fan.


As we come to an end, Neha talks about whether she wants to continue with acting always or do something else in life. Almost lazily she replies, "I am not concentrating on anything. I am not very passionate and ambitious about anything. I am not focusing on acting or anything." When I raise my eyebrows at her chilled out attitude in a cut-throat industry, she reinstates more clearly, "If I am committed to something, I will give my 100 per cent. But if I do not like it anymore or I am feeling pressurized, I will say thank you, bye-bye, and give up acting."

On a parting note, I ask her how the real Neha is and I somehow already know what's coming next. "I am very normal and casual; nothing unique about me," she dismisses the question like something inconsequential. Looking at her laidback attitude, I realize Neha is one actress, who will never be bothered about the nitty-gritties of life, on which most of us spend our precious hours brooding. It seems nothing can get her to fret and it's this attitude that is so envious.

*By Purvaja Sawant