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Imagine your favourite prime time bahu or beti turning up in figure-hugging jeans and tee, to make a public appearance!
Chances are not many of her soap-struck, or shall we say star-struck, fans will even recognise her and given the current trend, it won't happen either. Call it a smart way of promoting their shows, but increasingly, television production houses and channels insist that their lead characters make most of their public appearances as the 'characters' they play on-screen. Even if it means a character playing a genie has to sport 'blue' make-up, conjoined reel twins need to stay glued to each other (well literally), doctors have to wear white coat or the actor who plays Prithviraj Chauhan, brandish a sword in the middle of a press conference in broad daylight! Really.
Do these gimmicks actually help the shows or create any hype about the characters? Siddharth Kumar Tewary, creative producer and director of Ambar Dhara, says, "Nothing comes easy. For our serial (on conjoined twins), we had to train the girls for eight months, to get into the skin of their characters." It was perhaps a trend that was started off by Mona 'Jassi' Singh when the channel and the production house made sure that she got seen only in her ugly duckling garb until her transformation. In fact, so painful was that act for Mona that she had "bleeding gums" at the end of her 'braced', be-spectacled life and got startled when she saw herself after the glam makeover in the mirror!
Television producer, J D Majethia, feels 'getting connected' to the audience is very important. He says, "In order to establish an actor, it's important to present him/her in new avatar, so that people relate to him and can identify with the actor."
But more than the usual saris, trademark bindis and mangalsutra, the epic serials, which have come up with traditional and heavy costumes, are taking toll of many actors. Sheetal Dhabolkar, who plays Sanyukta in Prithviraj Chauhan, finds "it very difficult to manage such a heavy costume. When we go out for a public appearance, we have to dress up in the same get-up, which is difficult, because even while shooting, we wear the same dress."
Payal Patel, creative head of a television show, says, "Actors can play their real selves only when they take part in reality shows. Producers and directors always want stars to be the characters all the time, especially during public appearances."
Actor Sanjeeda Sheikh, who plays a bad girl in Kayamath, doesn't find it difficult. She says, "I was myself in Nach Baliye and all my public appearances were in casual, simple clothes that I wear in real life. As for Kayamath, I don't have to wear those clothes in public, I am not contract bound to do so." Newcomer Aarti Singh, who sported a salwar-kameez-bindi for her public appearance as a docile daughter, confesses that she doesn't find it tough, because in real life too she often "wears salwar-kameez at home".
Not everyone is as lucky though. Ask the Jassis and Prithviraj Chauhans of the telly world who go to extra lengths to 'look' their characters, spend many painful and long hours getting back to their real lives, after the elaborate make-up removal sessions.
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