Article: Rajshree Thakur

dare to believe in yourself and you can achieve what the world deems impossible.

i have always believed that nothing is impossible!!!! if you can you will, if you can't you won't….that has been my motto in life. life is what you make of it and i live for the moment and leave the rest in the hands of the "almighty"!!!

for me my family means the world to me.

my family comprises of my father - mr. lavesh thakur, mother - bhima, brother – haresh and my five elder sisters – shetal, archana, meena, sunanda and dhanvanti. i am the youngest and have been pampered by all six of them. my father is in the hotel business and we have resorts all across maharashtra.

we had all the possible luxuries but our mother wanted us to realize the importance of it.

my mother has really worked hard on us and has seen to it that we have been given all that one could have asked for as children but she has never spoiled us. she knew where to draw the line and has always made us realize the value of money. even though we had three cars, our mother made sure that we travel by trains as she wanted all seven of us to be rooted. our's is a very typical "maharastrian" family. my parents believe in – 'simple living and high thinking".

i was the "dada" of my school.

my best friend shalaka and i were the so called "dada's" in school. most of the students used to get scared of us we used to boss around quite a lot!!! also, we enjoyed that little extra power in school as we were the monitors of the entire school. all the students used to share there food (tiffin) with us and even the "vada pav" wala had to give is that little extra.

i was always a very stubborn child.

everyone called me "raju" as i was more of a tomboy. if i had made up my mind to do something, then nothing could come in my way to change my decision.

my sisters used to sneak me from the other door as my father never approved of my clothes.

being a tom boy i loved wearing short skirts and out door games, but my father did not approve of all this. now our house had two entrances – one was the main front entrance and the other was the back yard entrance. when my father used to be home, my sisters used to sneak me in and saw to it that our father never got a glimpse of me in the short skirts.

i was always in a lot of extracurricular activates, both in school, as well as college.

i used to love doing plays as well as take part in all the extracurricular activities. i was a very good orator and won a lot of trophies for my school.

i started doing theater much against my father's wishes.

not that my father was against me acting, but the rehearsals took up a lot of time and i used to be late each and every day. this was something my father never approved off. had it not been for the support of my sisters i would not have been able to purse my dreams. they have always stood by me and helped me fulfill my dreams.

i always wanted to be on my own and did multiple jobs.

while studying for my llb, i was a news reader at the "all india radio, a tax consultant as well as a news translator in doordarshan. being financially independent gave me a high.

i never tough being dusky was a minus.

i got my portfolio clicked with my own money that i had saved and distributed my pictures. my first commercial was for bajaj hair oil and i was paid a sum of rs. 15,000 for it.

my mother was worried and did not rest till i called her as soon as i reached bangalore.

i has a problem – air sickness!!! i used to end up falling sick when ever i traveled by flight. i got selected for a commercial and was asked to come down to bangalore for the shoot. my mother was so worried about me as it was my first trip all by myself, and i had this problem. but as luck could have it, nothing happened to me and the first think i did as soon as i landed was to call mom and yell in excitant on the phone that all was well.

i got selected for an indo french film.

"hawa aane de" was the name of the indo french film that i had the opportunity to be a pat of. this film gave me a lot of exposure as well as helped me sharpen my acting skills.

my father saw that i was really serious about acting and he never questioned me.

i started perusing my modeling as well as acting very seriously and it started showing results. i was very keen to make a mark for myself and so did not want to let go of any opportunities. my father, i guess, could see the burning desire in me to make it big and never questioned me on my decisions. he just wanted me to keep him posted about all that i am doing, and i must thank him for giving me total freedom.

my fianc, sanjyot (now my husband) was my senior in college.

we knew each other since college but nothing really happened then. he was my senior in college and was very actively involved in theater. it's at the college theatre group that we started meeting up.

i took it up as a challenge to make friends him sanjyot.

sanjyot was a star in college and everyone wanted be friends with him. but he was a loner and did not talk much or mix around with us. he knew he had a little edge over all of us, so had a bit of an attitude. now i took this very personally and decided to be friend's with him and i guess, in that process fell in love.

both of us knew that we liked each other but none of us made the first move.

sanjyot and i became friends, but all through college, never confessed our love for each other. he was very supportive of all that wanted to do and was always there for me. what i liked bout him was his sense of responsibility. he was very careful about what to say, when to say and he just knew it all, except the fact that he loved me.

it was mid - night and sanjyot called me and proposed marriage.

as sanjyot was a year senior in college, he passed out before me, nut we still kept meeting as we were in the same theater group. it was one of the usual days, sanjyot dropped me home, after our play rehearsals and i still remember it was exactly mid – night that he called, something he had never done. he told me that he wanted to get married and my first reaction was "any girl in the right mind would say yes, if he proposed marriage". we both kept taking and there was something uncanny about this conversation and then, out of the blue, he asked "kya tumhare ghar mein love marriage karna mana hai?" (is there an issue in you family about love marriage??). i asked him – "why, why are you asking me all this??" sanjyot then told me – because i want to marry you….."kya tum mujse shaadi karoge (will you marry me)…."and as they say the rest is history….

all i knew was that they were looking of a girl with long hair for saloni in "saat phere".

aasavari kotikar, saw my film "hawa aane de" at the "asian film festival" and at that time they were auditioning for "saat phere". she suggested my name and i was called for the auditions. i was not too keep to go for as i was not ready to do television and that too a daily soap!!!! i gave my auditions and came back, not expecting too much.

i became a house hold name overnight.

"saat phere" as given me a lot. it's been a great experience to be associated with a production like this. the entire unit is like a family and i have learned a lot from each and every one of them.

i am really fortunate to have such understand in – laws.

sanjyot has always been very supportive of whatever i do, but it's my fortune to have such lovely in-laws. they understand the pressures and working hours that are required for a job like mine.

films, are what i want to do.

i want to give films a shot. having worked in both films as well as television i feel there is more creative satisfaction in films because there is more time at hand and there are no deadlines. television is fun but how i wish there was more time at hand!!!!

have the courage to try new things that come your way.

i always feel that one must be open to change and must give his or her fullest to anything new. life is too short so make the most of it. for me, it's more important to have tried and failed than to never have tried. if you believe in something, or someone, then have the guys to stand up for it and believe you me, you will never be at a loss!!!!!