Veteran Marathi TV and stage actress, Poorva Gokhale, is quite happy with her ongoing Zee TV show, Tujhse Hai Raabta (Sonali Jaffer Production). “It feels nice when your hard work is appreciated by the audiences in terms of good ratings. I guess the unique stepmother-stepdaughter relationship between my character, Anupriya, and Kalyani (Reem Shaikh), is finding resonance, for you don’t find similar equations in other shows. Also, the above equation is not static but changes with time, as does life. At first, Kalyani hated Anupriya, thinking that my character came between her dead mother, Madhuri Deshmukh (Amrapali Gupta) and jailed father, Atul Deshmukh (Pankaj Vishnu). Anupriya’s relationship with younger man, Malhar (Sehban Azim), is also another interesting unexplored track.”
Here Poorva does admit that first when Anupriya was shown to be very submissive, “I have had creative arguments with the writer, saying that she should give back. But luckily, over time, Anupriya’s graph has undergone a change too, and that is good for the actors as we get something else to do.”
Poorva is full of praise for her Raabta co-stars. “Most, leaving Savita Prabhune (Ahilya Deshmukh), are younger than me. I am especially impressed with Reem, for she is fully aware of what is required of her in terms of emotion and acting, and she is all of 15. I would have normally expected such awareness only after crossing 20.”
Poorva, who has been missing from Hindi TV for over a decade (last did Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki), preferring Marathi TV and theatre, says, “I was only being offered mother roles who had nothing more to offer. But Anupriya is a lead in her own way, having her own backstory, etc.”
When asked about differences between Marathi and Hindi tube content, she says, “Creatively, both are good in their respective spheres. Hindi shows have more drama as that is expected of it compared to Marathi shows, which are more realistic. Also, the taking and visual richness on the national level is bigger, simply due to higher budgets on offer.”
In closing, Poorva is also game for web series. But she is not sure if she will be open for bold. “I will cross that bridge when I come to it. Also, I don’t think web is only about skin show, for there are several concepts that don’t go down this route.”
