Pratyusha Banerjee Commits Suicide - ALL DISCUSSIONS HERE ONLY - Page 8

Back in 2010, when the TV show Balika Vadhu on Colors was still a popular cultural force to reckon with, the mantle of playing the lead role of Anandi Jagdish Singh, the bright and bubbly child bride from Rajasthan, fell on Pratyusha Banerjee. The show had just taken a five-year leap in time, and was looking to fill the shoes of Avika Gor, who had until then played the young Anandi to much love and acclaim from the audience.

The channel and the producers of the show had decided that since it was the audience who had elevated Anandi to where she was, the choice of the "Nayi Anandi" would also be up to them. Thus it was after a nationwide audition and an SMS vote campaign that young Banerjee from Jamshedpur was chosen to play the popular role.

Pradeep Yadav, who directed her in Balika Vadhu, recalls her rawness. "The audience may have had chosen Pratyusha to play Anandi, but it still took her about three to four months before she got a perfect grasp over the role," he says, adding, "But she was a very sincere girl and a very hard worker, and soon went on to establish herself in such a way that she became a huge star. Even her co-stars Shashank Vyas and Siddharth Shuklla had been chosen by the audience and Pratyusha's pairing with both actors was very popular among the viewers She has won best pair awards with both''

Three years later, however, Banerjee had quit the show amidst rumours of her being unwell, or being difficult on the sets. Whether it was because of a fallout with the makers of Balika Vadhu or because Banerjee wanted to pursue other roles was never clear. Yadav says, "Actors are difficult on every TV show. They're either late or they just don't turn up. There is nothing unusual about it."