Love & hate collide - article

Love & hate collide

Sanaya Irani takes stock of her chemistry with co-actor Ashish Sharma and the lure of reality shows

For four months now, a story about a village girl and a Border Security Force officer has been keeping viewers glued to their telly. As the lead pair of the series, Rangrasiya, Sanaya Irani and Ashish Sharma have been setting the screen on fire with their sizzling chemistry and raking in the TRPs for Colors TV with their love-hate relationship. Irani, who plays Paro, is known for her roles in Miley Jab Hum Tum and Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon. "I cannot relate to Paro. I am not soft spoken or a die-hard romantic," she insists.

Standing out
Irani chose the show because she found the role challenging. She wanted to break out of the mould of the bubbly girl-next-door character. "My character reacts in a different way in every situation. The essence of her character is very real," she adds. Irani thinks she is lucky to be working with an actor like Sharma, who plays Paro's love interest, Rudra. "He is an experienced actor and that's one reason why our on-screen chemistry is great," she says. "And the fact that Ashish's character is brash and tough while Paro is a shy and innocent girl, makes it interesting, too," she adds. The series has taken a twist with Paro falling in love with the tough Rudra, even though, till recently, she hated him for killing her husband.

Irani explains, "It is because she has realised that her marriage was a sham and her husband would've killed her if Rudra hadn't intervened." This is an interesting turn because Rudra is shown to spurn the company of women. Irani, who wants to stay away from reality shows "except for dance shows, maybe," says that she finds fiction more interesting. About run-of-the-mill prime time soaps that have domineering mother-in-law and submissive daughter-in-law roles, she says, "It is all fiction, meant for entertainment, and should be taken in that spirit. It is all about ratings." But Irani signs off stating that her show is completely different, a s is her character. Monday to Friday on Colors TV at 9 pm.

-Sumitra Nair