i dont want to hate my work-varsha

T he actress makes her Hin- di daily soap debut with Durgesh Nandinii. Varsha Usgaonkar, who has acted in several Marathi serials and also a few Hindi films, says, "I have done episodic shows but this is my first daily serial." Usgaonkar says that she was paranoid about accepting a dai- ly serial: "I have heard that the shooting schedules can be a grind. I didn't want to over-exert myself and then start hating my work. At the same time, I was tired of doing Marathi films and serials. As an actress I don't want to do just one thing and stagnate. "When Shobhna Desai, the producer called me up, I was ini- tially hesitant. I took it up only because they called me last November and said they were going on air in February. So, I had that much time to decide,"she says. She plays the badi bahu as she describes her character of Gitan- jali: "She and her husband (Anu- pam Bhattacharya) are grey characters in the show. Durgesh Nandinii comes to their house and teaches them a lesson," nar- rates Usgaonkar. Ask her if it has any similar- ity to Mahesh Manjrekar's film Jis Des Mein Ganga Rehta Hai which featured Govinda as the village bumpkin and she says, "Well I had seen the pro- mos of that film, but all I remember of it is the old Jis des mein ganga behti hai song.. All I can tell you is this serial is based on a Bengali novel called Durgesh Nandini." Usgaonkar says since it's ear- ly days, the production house doesn't have a bank of episodes. "But I'm sure by next month, it will all settle down. Fortunately, I am not mentally hassled about any other commitment, so I can focus all my energies on this show," she remarks. A few months ago, she was seen in the Marathi serial called Tujhya Vina. How does she com- pare the functioning of a Hindi daily soap unit vis-a-vis a Marathi one? "Hindi serials are all about grandeur. Earlier we would shoot in bungalows, today there are lavish sets.Tech- nically too, we have improved a great deal. Marathi serials score in terms of their literary value and content. "Today's Hindi serials imitate films, they are larger than life. There is no realism left like we saw in Hum Log. I can't identi- fy at all with the shows today. The characters, the situations are no longer simple and real," she ends. Music and more CUT AN ALBUM I had worked on an album of nursery rhymes with Anil Mohile. I want to do some more. MUSIC SHOW I am doing a Marathi music-based show called Music Masti Gappa Gaani. It fulfills my desire to be a singer. REALITY GENRE Too much of anything is bad. The current song-based reality shows are just imitating one another. In the bargain, talent is lost. An audience can't judge a singer. Given the importance they pay on looks and presentation, I wonder if they are scouting for singers or actors or both?

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