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Unlike Suhana of Sasural Genda Phool, who is a frivolous young woman, Pratigya of Mann Ki Awaaz Pratigya (Star Plus) is the exact opposite. She's the sober, serious type, from a traditional family in Allahabad. But she's married into a rustic, almost ruffian-like family that sees women as nonentities.
Her husband is the local thug, who was only able to marry Pratigya by threatening to abduct her and ruin her family's reputation.
But though she gave in to these threats, Pratigya is no doormat. She has to make compromises, but she ensures that people know they are compromises. Always calm and composed, she knows exactly how to get her husband to listen to her. And she takes no nonsense from her in-laws.
Different Strokes............
Pooja GaurSo is Pratigya a kind of new-age Tulsi? Pooja Gaur, who plays Pratigya, cringes at the very thought. "I cannot imagine playing Tulsi – new-age, old-age, whatever age," she shudders. "She was too melodramatic and very much the sacrificial lamb. That's not me, either on screen or off it."
You would imagine that a woman who marries the local thug to protect her family's honour would be a bit of a martyr, but that's not how Pooja sees Pratigya's character. "In fact, she marries him for revenge," Pooja says. "She is sure she'll be able to teach him a lesson after marriage. Besides, to keep her safe, Pratigya's brother marries the goon's sister. So it's a give and take."
Pooja thought hard before she accepted the role of Pratigya. "I was always sure of what I wanted to do, the kind of roles I wanted to play," she says. "I was tired of the Tulsis and Parvatis on TV. So when I heard the story of Pratigya, I leapt at it. Here is this woman in a conventional set-up in a semi-urban place, and yet she is strong enough to hold her own. She has guts and that is what made me do the serial."
Strong medicine
It was a risk, given that TV audiences want to watch characters like Tulsi, Parvati and their clones. But Pooja believes that audiences are just as tired of these "silly" bahus as she is. "People would watch these serials religiously. But every time I spoke to any of my aunts about them, they would criticise the bahus for being silly or doormat-ish, forever sobbing and never standing up for themselves."
Pratigya has become quite the role model for women in smaller cities. "It's a nice feeling when women and little girls come up and tell me how their lives have changed after watching the serial," says Pooja. "Once, when I was in Kanpur, a 14-year-old girl told me how she had hit back at a boy in her school who had been troubling her for a while. In Lucknow, a married woman told me she was proud to see someone like Pratigya who stood up against injustice."
An Ahmedabad girl, Pooja herself is as strong as Pratigya, though she says she has never been that sombre. "I am just 19!" she says. "I'm much more of a child, hyperactive and vivacious. I am also a tomboy. I grew up with 14 cousin brothers. Obviously, these girly tantrums don't come naturally to me."
She'd never considered acting as a career and was in college when TV producer Ektaa Kapoor saw her pictures on Facebook and approached her to do a serial, Kitni Mohabbat Hai. "Till then I was happy studying. But this wasn't just any role," says Pooja. "It was the role of a widow who falls in love and decides to marry. For TV, that was different. So I jumped at it."
Her parents weren't upset by Pooja's decision to enter the world of glamour – "they're sure of me," she says – so her transition was smooth. But is there a chance that Pratigya might change to the more conventional soap queen? "I will quit before I become a Tulsi or Parvati!" laughs Pooja
Her husband is the local thug, who was only able to marry Pratigya by threatening to abduct her and ruin her family's reputation.
But though she gave in to these threats, Pratigya is no doormat. She has to make compromises, but she ensures that people know they are compromises. Always calm and composed, she knows exactly how to get her husband to listen to her. And she takes no nonsense from her in-laws.
Different Strokes............
Pooja GaurSo is Pratigya a kind of new-age Tulsi? Pooja Gaur, who plays Pratigya, cringes at the very thought. "I cannot imagine playing Tulsi – new-age, old-age, whatever age," she shudders. "She was too melodramatic and very much the sacrificial lamb. That's not me, either on screen or off it."
You would imagine that a woman who marries the local thug to protect her family's honour would be a bit of a martyr, but that's not how Pooja sees Pratigya's character. "In fact, she marries him for revenge," Pooja says. "She is sure she'll be able to teach him a lesson after marriage. Besides, to keep her safe, Pratigya's brother marries the goon's sister. So it's a give and take."
Pooja thought hard before she accepted the role of Pratigya. "I was always sure of what I wanted to do, the kind of roles I wanted to play," she says. "I was tired of the Tulsis and Parvatis on TV. So when I heard the story of Pratigya, I leapt at it. Here is this woman in a conventional set-up in a semi-urban place, and yet she is strong enough to hold her own. She has guts and that is what made me do the serial."
Strong medicine
It was a risk, given that TV audiences want to watch characters like Tulsi, Parvati and their clones. But Pooja believes that audiences are just as tired of these "silly" bahus as she is. "People would watch these serials religiously. But every time I spoke to any of my aunts about them, they would criticise the bahus for being silly or doormat-ish, forever sobbing and never standing up for themselves."
Pratigya has become quite the role model for women in smaller cities. "It's a nice feeling when women and little girls come up and tell me how their lives have changed after watching the serial," says Pooja. "Once, when I was in Kanpur, a 14-year-old girl told me how she had hit back at a boy in her school who had been troubling her for a while. In Lucknow, a married woman told me she was proud to see someone like Pratigya who stood up against injustice."
An Ahmedabad girl, Pooja herself is as strong as Pratigya, though she says she has never been that sombre. "I am just 19!" she says. "I'm much more of a child, hyperactive and vivacious. I am also a tomboy. I grew up with 14 cousin brothers. Obviously, these girly tantrums don't come naturally to me."
She'd never considered acting as a career and was in college when TV producer Ektaa Kapoor saw her pictures on Facebook and approached her to do a serial, Kitni Mohabbat Hai. "Till then I was happy studying. But this wasn't just any role," says Pooja. "It was the role of a widow who falls in love and decides to marry. For TV, that was different. So I jumped at it."
Her parents weren't upset by Pooja's decision to enter the world of glamour – "they're sure of me," she says – so her transition was smooth. But is there a chance that Pratigya might change to the more conventional soap queen? "I will quit before I become a Tulsi or Parvati!" laughs Pooja
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