C ircle the odd one out from the following prime time TV bahus — Tulsi, Parvati, Prerna, Kashish and Dorris. Now before you obviously circle Dorris, note that she is actually Prerna's screen bahu in Balaji Telefilms' Kasauti Zindagi Kay. Suzanne Bernert plays Dorris. Bernert has been calling India home for the past two and a half years. She's learnt to speak Hindi ("Meiiin kosheeesh ker rehin huun"), loves Indian food, says she doesn't miss Germany because "India gives me warmth and love, though I miss my family". Couch potatoes would remember her as "Simran's bua's son's fiance in Astitva Ek Prem Kahani in which I played an older woman getting married to a younger man," as Dorris, "Prerna's son Tusshar's wife" and as Rusty's English mom in Lekh Tandon's Aisa Des Hai Mera. Born in Hanover, Bernert, like most actors, dreamt of acting since she was knee high. She learnt "all that was to learn acting" from her teacher Heidelotte Diehl. But would Diehl approve of Balaji soaps? "Oh, absolutely. She always taught me to deliver the moment the camera was on. An important thing she taught me was 'Always be prepared to face the camera because a lot of money is at stake and so don't waste it in retakes'. In Balaji soaps, there is no time to think and ponder or rehearse endlessly, so the training has helped me tremendously." It's quite cute to hear Bernert talk especially when she rattles off her co-star's screen names of Kasauti… "Right now, the track is all around Mukteee, Praem, Prairna, Mr Bejaj, Deboneeta and Comoleeka and so Vishal who plays Tusshar and I are presently sitting on our butts doing nothing." Does she know to drape a sari? "Well, nobody does. They all scream, 'Hairdresser ko bulao.'" Let's rewind a bit on how Bernert started it all. It was in Dubai while she was working on a film called Destined Hearts with an Indian maker when a kind production controller took charge of her. He introduced her to "people in the Hindi film industry who mattered. And so I met people like Mahesh Bhatt." She also landed a role in Ajay Sinha's film STOP and then in his serial Astitva Ek Prem Kahani. She has also done acted in Farhan Akhtar's producton, Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd di rected by debutant Reema Kagti. "It was fantastic working with Shabana (Azmi) and Boman (Irani). I love watching Hindi movies. My favourites? Well, who doesn't like the Bachchans? I also think Konkona Sen Sharma is super. She was the only highlight of Naseeruddin Shah's Yun Hota To Kya Hota. I quite like Saif (Ali Khan) and Kareena Kapoor too." Bernert has left for Germany to stage Akhil Mishra's play The Ex-Factor. She returns next month to start shooting for a DD serial with N Chandra and hopes to conduct theatre workshops. She says that it's very expensive to put up a play in Germany "But in India, at least it's manageable. I want to combine the Indian style of acting with the German style which is all about being more natural. Why put glycerine while performing a sad scene. Cry naturally… what will happen? The nose will turn red and the face will distort but at least it will look real," she says.
BERNERT'S BOOKS When she's not acting, Bernert is either watching movies or plays or reading books. "Books are my lifeline. My current favourite is Amitav Ghosh. His The Glass Palace had me completely impressed and recently when I read his The Hungry Tide, I felt as if it was written by somebody else. He's so good."
Advocate Anjali Awasthi
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