'I'm not the kind to butter up producers'
...says Daljit Kaur, who's all set to make her mark in tellydom
RESHMA S KULKARNI
Her's is a success-story that dreams are made of ! From being the youngest and pampered daughter of an army household, who didn't know what she would be doing in her life, to becoming one of the most sought-after fresh faces in tellydom, Daljit Kaur has come a long way. "I have never believed in planning my life. Even when both my elder sisters had long decided to follow our father's footsteps and join the army, I was blissfully ignorant about what I'd like to do!" she says. But one need not mistake this attitude of hers as laidback, for Daljit is quick to clarify, "Far from being laidback, I'm quite a go-getter but I believe a lot in destiny and God. But I'm not the kind to get insecure about when things will turn great for me. I believe in making things great."
She embarked on a spate of successes in prestigious beauty pageants like Miss Poona, Miss Navy ball and Miss Maharashtra. "I had no inclination to enter this field but on the insistence of friends, I sent in my pictures for Miss Poona, which I won and then the other contests just followed. I started getting calls for production houses to do episodic roles in programmes like CID and Aahat — a stint that I took up for a lark and quite enjoyed. But till recently, I had not left my job and would have been very much happy to go back to it" confesses Daljit, who despite also having done ramp shows, never quite liked it. "I found it too monotonous to stand without an expression while people gaped at the products you displayed! I wanted to do something more emotive and TV provided a good chance to do so" says the firebrand Daljit.
However, like many of her counterparts, Daljit did not move onto the 70 mm screen and chose to come to the small screen. Why so? "It's not as if I did not want to do films; in fact, I got a few offers but temperamentally, I'm not much suited for the film industry; at least, not at the moment. With due respect to those girls who have made it big here, I'm not the kind to butter up producers or keep doing the rounds of their offices with my portfolio in hand, to bag a role. If I get a good role I'd love to do it. In fact, even with Kulvaddhu or the other programmes I did, work has always come to me rather than me going out to seek it. I have been lucky enough to not have had to do that."
Daljit gets all excited as she elaborates about Sony's Kulvaddhu. "It's an amazing unit to work with. They all are very senior and are forever trying to teach me the finer nuances of acting and are extremely patient when I falter."
At the moment, Daljit is much geared up about her career to think about marriage. "My parents and I have mutually decided to presently focus only on the career bit" says Daljit, who in her free time loves to write in her secret diaries.
Ye Hai Mohabbatein
Mangal Lakshmi
