An encounter with TV's Sohni Mahiwal

Two popular actors doing a comedy show on Doordarshan makes us wonder why they decided to be a part of the show when they can have the option of experimenting with the other channels as well. We are citing at Varun Badola , Shweta Kawatra and Rajesh Puri (director cum actor) who are a part of the Sohni Mahiwal, a weekly comedy show on DD produced by UTV which is currently also the top grosser show on the channel.

As we walk into the sets of Sohni Mahiwal in a suburban Mumbai studio we see the unit members busy arranging the camera for the shoot to begin. We witness a busy Varun Badola glued to his laptop and wonder what he is upto until he tells us that he is writing the dialogues for his Star Plus show Aek Chabbi Padoss Mein!!! He diligently pens lines in between shots and jokes around with his unit members to lighten up the mood.

The actor has had his first brush with a comedy show earlier named Yeh Hai Mumbai Meri Jaan on Zee prior to this show. We caught up with the actor to ask him what made him take up this role. "I play a regular middle class Punjabi character who works for an insurance company and also has all kinds of everyday problems with his wife. I shot for the pilot of this show three years back and then the production house got back to us with the show, so we decided to get on with it," says a thoughtful Varun.

Rajesh Puri with Shweta and Varun: Teaching the tricks of the trade?

We see a decked up Shweta Kawatra (in Anarkali style) heading for the shoot to which we are curious to know what is the shoot for the day all about. " I enjoy doing this kind of comedy which is episodic and each episode has me doing something different with a new story which is fun and not boring. We fight over a new problem every time at the same time the chemistry between the couple is very cute so every household can relate to it easily. My character is that of a very sweet, dominating, nave, cute and gullible girl," smiles Shweta looked a tad too tired post her brilliant act in Nach Baliye.

We watch the director cum actor Rajesh Puri (Lallu from Hum Log) treating Varun and Shweta as kids and coaxing them to give their best shot. The director has also worked with Varun's father during his Hum Log days and is a like a father figure to all the unit members.

"After working for television and theatre for 30 odd years I thought direction was the next best thing for me. The show had some teething problems to begin with in terms of getting the comic sense right but currently it has earned the highest TRPs on DD which is a matter of pride for us," points out director Rajesh Puri.

Shweta and Varun share not only a good onscreen chemistry but are buddies of screen as well which is evident from the fact that they both are on back slapping terms and were seen discussing their individual experiences on Nach Baliye.
Also the episode being shot has Varun fantasizing about Shweta as his Umrao Jaan and both the actors were seen pulling each others leg.

The actors continued with their funny histrionics while we had to bid them adieu.