| Sujata Segal plays Naina (Angad's mother) in the Sony daily Kaisa Ye Pyar Hai. As the obsessive mother who does not want anything (read Kripa) to come in the way of her son's success, her character is often scheming and sometimes sugary in this Balaji drama.
But a lesser-known fact about Sujata, is that she is the granddaughter of the legendary actress Zohra Segal. Acting achanak
"Yes, she is my nani," says Sujata. "She is thrilled that I am also acting. She tells me acting is all about being your self. Don't overact or overreact.
And don't do over-the-top acting. That's a definite no for nani," says Sujata who turned to acting "one fine day, just out of the blue. I was based in Chennai at that time.
A friend of mine casually suggested that Mani Ratnam was auditioning for Yuva. So I thought, why not just try it out for the experience?" Sujata went along and was selected to play the role of Tara, Ajay Devgan's sister in the film. "That was my acting debut," points out Sujata, "Then one assignment led to another." Broken marriages
Extremely articulate and forthright, Sujata points out that she is staying in Mumbai with a friend, solely for professional reasons. "I have a 12-year-old daughter, Madhyama, who lives with my mother (Kiran Segal) in Delhi. In fact my mother is a classical dancer who runs the Pallavi Academy, there." When asked about her personal life, she admits that she has had two broken marriages.
"See, there is no point hiding anything. I was first married at the age of 20, in Delhi. I was a mother by 21. Later, at 27, I wed someone else who was based in Chennai. That, too, didn't work out." Moving on
She takes these broken marriages in her stride. "There are many things that don't happen as you see it. So you move on," says Sujata who is now keen to make her mark in the acting scenario. "While shooting for Yuva, I got to know Anurag Kashyap who was part of Mani Ratnam's team. Anurag cast me in his film Black Friday."
Television came her way through her agents, Vivek and Vikram of Express Talents. "I had registered with them and they put me on to Balaji. Besides Kaisa Ye Pyar Hai, I have also featured in Time Bomb (Zee) and Kahaani Ghar Ghar Kii (Star Plus) for a short while." Painted glory
Besides acting, Sujata is also into art and painting. "In Chennai, I spent a lot of time painting and sketching. I am greatly interested in abstracts. Whenever there is time on hand, I love to paint," she adds.
shaheen@mid-day.com |
Advocate Anjali Awasthi
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