shwetha kawatra

Shweta Kawatra has seen it all

turningpoint

This is Shweta's Kahaani

This one has had it tough. TV actress Shweta Kawatra says her moving to Mumbai gave her life a new direction

In my personal life, the turning point came when I shifted to Mumbai from Delhi. I was 20 years old then, and it was a rebellious move- my parents were against my leaving. At that time I had no particular idea as to why I wanted to come to this city, but I knew I wanted to be independent, financially and emotionally. This was in 1997, and I managed it here. Somehow I survived! I started off by acting in a serial called Suhana Safar, but that didn't mean much insofar as it wasn't really smooth sailing after that. For four years it was a hand-to-mouth existence. I still wasn't sure as to what I wanted to do; I was young and had the luxury to experiment. I was modelling an lot and after my first acting stint I thought I liked it enough and could possibly continue with it. There really wasn't any question of going back to Delhi even though my parents called me at the time asking me to return. They said 'you've experimented enough, there's nothing there.'They wanted me to go back and get married but there was no way I was going to do that!Professionally the big break happened for me with Balaji's Kahaani Ghar Ghar Ki. I got a call one night at 1:30 am in the morning from Ekta saying, 'We are casting right away for the serial and we want you as a replacement for someone else.' That was crazy! I was nervous on two counts- firstly she wanted me to come the very next day and secondly she wanted me to fit into someone else's shoes. I was apprehensive since I wasn't the first choice for the part. I didn't have much faith in myself, it was Ekta who said, 'Trust me you can do it'. That's when I thought I have nothing to lose, let me try it for sometime; if I don't like it I can always leave. And after that there was no looking back.As told to Bhavya Dore