By: Shaheen Parkar
February 16, 2006
Earlier, she did it for Apara Mehta (Savita of Kyunki) and Rupa Divetia (Sarla of Kkusum).
Vandana Pathak (Meenakshi of Hum Paanch and Jayshree of Instant Khichdi) continues her rescue act with Kamalika Guha Thakurta (Gayatri of Kyunki and Revathy of Baa Bahoo Aur Baby).
Kamalika, who is part of the cast of the Hindi play, Tea Coffee or Me?, has to skip the February 19 show at Ravindra Natyamandir, Prabhadevi, because she has to take off for Kolkata, for a shoot — something that can't be put off.
Hindi mushkil hai
But, as they say, the show must go on. Vandana has stepped in, to play Kamalika's character, Rama, who is in search of a groom for her daughter in the play. "I have just started memorising the lines. There are still three days to go before the show, so there is time. I have done plenty of Gujarati theatre, but Tea Coffee or Me? is my first Hindi play.
When the executive producer (Sanjay Bhatia) approached me, I agreed. Yet, I am tense at the thought of rattling off all those lines in Hindi. In serials, we just have to say one or two lines and the scene is cut; there isn't much to memorise."
Kamalika turns anchor
Kamalika is proceeding to Kolkata for the shoot of a local Bengali talk show.
"I had already committed to them before, and now the dates are clashing with the drama. There is no way I can put it off. We are banking a couple of episodes," says Kamalika, who turns anchor with the show. "It is a woman-centric chat show, as yet untitled, in which achievers will be interviewed," she says.
Though only a single show has been staged so far, Kamalika, who makes her theatre debut with Tea Coffee or Me?, is already feeling possessive about the character.
"We had been rehearsing all this while, so there is a bonding with the character; especially when you see someone else essaying it now."
Other rescues
Earlier, Vandana had replaced Rupa Divetia in Rajendra Butala's Gujarati play Tame Aavya Ne Ame Favya for a single show, when Rupa to undergo eye surgery.
Prior to that, she had stepped into Apara's character in Feroz Bhagat's Gujarati play, Adhura To Madhura, as Apara was held up at a film's shoot.
"I did Adhura To Madhura in barely a few hours; when their replacement actress for Apara did not turn up. I was told about it at 12 noon, and the show was held the same evening!" remembers Vandana.
Tea, Coffee or Me?, produced by Manhar Gadhia and Jagdish Rajpurohit,
has telly actors Swapnil Joshi, Ritu Chaudhary, Bhairavi Goswami, Prithvi Zutshi and Sunil Barve in the cast.
http://ww1.mid-day.com/hitlist/2006/february/130913.htm
Did you know?Vandana Pathak's father is theatre producer-director Arvind Vaidya. Her debut play, Sparsh, was directed by him.
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