Smile please!..article on Juhi..

J UHI PARMAR doesn't remember the last time her small screen character Kumkum smiled in the afternoon soap of the same name. She says, laughing, "Kumkum has cried so much in the show. It's sad that she has very few reasons to smile about. She's gone through so much in her life that you will more often than not see her weeping copiously." The show, which completes four years this July, claims Juhi, hasn't yet taken a toll on her, it hasn't, she says, yet made her scream 'Enough'. She claims she's still enjoying playing the much-married Kumkum. "Initially I used to feel I have had enough of playing her but not any more. I don't want to give it up ever. I don't mind doing something else, working in some other soap but not at the cost of Kumkum because it's an important part of my life." The reason we are speaking to Juhi is because her screen char acter is going through some more tumultuous events in her life. For instance, the makers of the show have decided to get inspired by the real life case of Gudiya (she who remarried after her first husband who was serving in the army was declared dead only to come back in her life when she was already pregnant with the other's child). And so, you have Kumkum, a la Gudiya oscillating between her first husband Jatin (Anuj Saxena) and her new one Sumeet (Hussain Kuwajerwala). And yes, to make matters more complicated, in true TV soap style, she has one child from Jatin and is expecting one from Sumeet. Also, Jatin is suf fering from partial amnesia while Sumeet has survived a massive accident and as Juhi explains you the intricacies of her reel life painstakingly, one can't help but joke about her being so much 'in' character. She says seriously, "I have to be aware of all these complexities because if I don't do it then how will I play the character?" Ask her if Kumkum has rubbed off on her real life persona and she promptly shakes her head, "I can never let Kumkum affect Juhi because I am a very switch-on-switch-off actor. Only when the shot is ready and I am in front of the camera, then I become her, otherwise you will always see Juhi Parmar." Kumkum is known to have a terrific chemistry with Sumeet so much so that the two actors were once even rumoured to be more than just co-stars. But with Hussain having recently got married to his sweetheart of many years, we asked Juhi if marriage has changed her co-star for the better and she laughs, "He was always the best and my very good friend. I don't think he needs to get any better. And now with his wife Tina, we three have a great time whenever we are together." Isn't she looking for marriage? Doesn't she miss a special someone? "Well, marriage is definitely I am looking forward to but right now I am very much single. I would love to marry someone from the industry because then he would understand my profes sional pressures better but again, even if the person gels with me irrespective of his profession, it's fine because the person is important and not where he comes from." And so all you men out there who probably watch Kumkum and her travails, may be this is the time to sweep her off, of her reel life distress and make her happy and smiling.

JUHI FACTFILE Juhi Parmar was born in Jaipur Lives in Mumbai with her younger sister Has been working in the TV industry for the past seven years Apart from Kumkum, she's also acted in Shaheen and Devi

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