Synopsis,Character Details & Articles (Page 11)

Rakesh finally quits Saat Phere!

Rakesh Bapat admires producer Sunjoy Wadhwa but refuses to work any further in his show Saat Phere. The actor is quitting the show mainly because he has Rakesh Bapat: From Saat Phere to Canadian venture! prior commitments to follow and is also not too happy playing the character Neel in the show. "Somehow, I've reached a stage where I fail to derive any creative satisfaction from my character in Saat Phere. The track went well for a long time but somehow there isn't much for me to do in the show. Also, I cannot connect with Neel as a person. I am really not blaming anyone for this. This is the way television functions here, though I'd love to work with Sunjoy in future," says Rakesh who will shoot for ten more days for the show. Rakesh had taken a break from Saat Phere for one month when he was busy shooting for his film Jai Santoshi Maa. Later, he started shooting again from July so that his character gets terminated from the show in a proper fashion. The actor is currently gearing up for a Canadian film titled If I Could Love You More produced by Canadian Film Association and directed by Pasha John. "I am the only Asian Indian guy in the film along with other Canadian and American actors. It's a love triangle and I play Sahil, an Indian guy. They wanted a fresh face to play the character, so they called me. I was touched when they narrated the story and needless to say it's a beautiful role," smiles the actor who will go to Canada in November for one and a half months to shoot for the film. Apart from his professional life, things are also looking up for Rakesh on the personal front. He celebrated his birthday in Pune on 1 September at a friend's farmhouse. "I drove down to Pune to seek my parent's blessings. Also, I was pleasantly surprised when my friends threw a surprise party for me on a beautiful rainy day.," adds the Pune bred actor who is looking forward to the release of his film Jai Santoshi Maa in September. Not many know that the actor is dating a film actress for the past six months and is taking time out to know her better. Though he refuses to reveal who his lady love is, all he says is, " I met her on the sets of a film about six months ago. We're just getting to know each other and as of now nothing is fixed." So, looks like the actor is obviously not ready for the Saat Phere in his life?       By KAVITA SHYAM Posted on 2 September 2006 6:00 pm

Edited by monika.goel - 03 September 2006 at 8:18am

Time for Saat Phere

Rajashri Thakur, who makes her small screen debut as Saloni in "Saat Phere", speaks to SANGEETA BAROOAH PISHAROTY

PHOTO: ANU PUSHKARNA

DUSKY DAMSEL Rajashri Thakur says her skin tone was the clincher for the role of Saloni in "Saat Phere" on Zee TV.

Being spotted as relatively active on stage during her school and college days, many well-wishers had advised Rajashri Thakur to look at a career on television. But having seen "the same old roles" cut out for female actors in tele-serials, Rajashri says she didn't want to be seen anywhere near it and instead got on to studying law.

"Meanwhile, I did an Indo-French film called Hawa Aane De," she shares. She played the role of Salma, a college-goer in the film. "It was about how many promising youngsters in India can't achieve their dream because of financial difficulties and the frustrations that they undergo," she explains.

When the film was screened in the Asian Film Festival, the producers of Saat Phere, the popular daily serial that she is seen in now on Zee TV, approached Rajashri for the lead role of Saloni.

"I told them no straightaway. But as the calls kept coming and the writer of Hawa Aane De, Virendra Shekhar, who knew the producers well, asked me to meet them once, I went and read the script, and everything changed. I loved the script, it is so different from what is rolled out on TV these days. I am happy that the serial is doing well," says the Mumbaiite.

Saat Phere is the story of Saloni, a girl from a middle-class family in Rajasthan who suffers humiliation because of her dark complexion. She marries Nahar for love, a nice, supportive man from a rich family, but only to suffer at the hands of wily relatives for dowry demands and various forms of rich-poor discrimination so common in our society. "It is a very real story that many girls with a skin colour like mine and from a lower middle class background face. With marriage it worsens. But the best part about Saloni is she never prefers to lose in life," states Rajashri, adding that her skin tone was the clinching factor for the role.

A newsreader too

A graduate of Bombay University, Rajashri also had a stint as a newsreader with All India Radio in Mumbai.

"I tried a lot of things. My stage background gave me a lot of confidence to do different things. I was such a regular in the Indian National Theatre competition. It is very popular among university students in Mumbai," she recounts. Rajashri also did a few modelling assignments for Tanishq, Bajaj Almond Hair Oil and Whirlpool, etc.

And now that she is being noticed in Saat Phere, will she hang around in Tinsel Town? "Well, it depends, if I get good roles," replies Rajashri.

SANGEETA BAROOAH PISHAROTY

Who is TV's best vamp?

July 10, 2006

So what if Smriti Irani's Tulsi rules television. Soaps would never be the same without its stylish vamps.

Sudha Chandran's Ramila Sikand had set new standards of fashion and hate in Kahin Kissi Roz.

Urvashi Dholakia is still better known as Komolika (after her character in Kasauti Zindagi Kay), and seems to have made a career out of being evil.

Aanchal Dwivedi (Saat Pheri), Achint Kaur (Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki) and Subhavi K (Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi) are the other telly vamps who have become very popular.

The latest in the ba(n)dwagon is Anchal Dwivedi, who has become famous for her menacing ways as Saloni's bhabhi Kaveri in 'Saat Phere – Saloni Ka Safar'. The girl admits that she was praying to God after the audition when she was told that she would be called back for confirmation. "I wasn't sceptical about playing the role at all or that I will get slotted as a vamp. I think it's more exciting to play a negative role than a positive one. You get to laugh, cry and backbite."

In spite of the kind of popularity that the roles bring, the vamps are always on par, if not above, with the positive characters. As Kruttika says, "I enjoy playing a vamp because the canvas gets really wide. You can experiment with your clothes, makeup, gestures, tone, etc and also, the role is inevitably meatier." As Anchal concludes, "Who wouldn't like to play a positive role? I'm sure every vamp, if given a good author backed positive role would like to do it. But, if I don't get an opportunity, I wouldn't have a problem because the audience has accepted me."

Driving the positive characters out of home: This is something that keeps happening in every other serial and is hugely inspired by Jeetendra starring remakes of Southern films (no wonder Ekta uses them the most). Most recently, the example of this conspiracy was Saat Phere in which the vamp Kaaveri (Aanchal Dwivedi) who just acts like a good bahu at times and only has evil in her mind, succeeded in getting her husband's mansion transferred in her name and drove her parents-in-law out of the

Being friendly and conspiring at the same time: Staying in the same house, sympathising with the character and plotting and planning against him/her at the same time ?this happens all the time. Of late Kakisaa (Apra Mehta in Saat Phere) is staying as a well-wisher with hero Nahar Singh (Sharad Kelkar)'s family. On one hand, she pretends to think about heroine Saloni (Rajashree Thakur)'s well being while in reality she wants to keep Saloni away from Nahar and wants her own niece (Natasha Singh) married to him.

Starring :  Rajpal Yadav, Farhan Khan, Narayani Shastri, Deepshikha, and Kirti Gaekwad. Director :  Dinyar Contractor Writer :  Ajay Khamosh Purva Desai Host-A-Performance Gulam, Begum, Badshah is a romantic comedy presented by Classic Production and is directed by Dinyar Contractor. Dinyar Contractor in this latest show skillfully blends the basic ingredients of deceit, deception and mistaken identity. Revolving around two young couples, the play takes a bizarre turn of events. Raj is married to Isha. On the pretext of going Jogging, Raj meets up with his girlfriend Pooja in his best friend's Flat. Raj's wife Isha is ignorant about these meetings. Raj's best friend Vikram is also having an affair with Raj's wife Isha. The arrangement works well for sometime until Vikram's wife Deepshi returns a little too early from her business trip to Dubai and puts the cat amongst the pigeons. But real complications start when Vikram lies to his wife Deepshi that Raj is suffering from a heart ailment which Raj's wife Isha is not aware of and Pooja is actually a nurse who is attending to Raj. Vikram fabricates these lies to fool Deepshi in order to save Raj from getting caught by Deepshi. Further complications arise when Deepshi invites Raj with his nurse Pooja, (with Vikram's knowledge) for dinner and Raj's wife Isha unexpectedly drops in at the house. From here on the permutations becomes so intricate that it seems impossible that Raj, Vikram, Isha and Deepshi can ever sort them out. But miraculously they do, so hilariously that the audience will keep rolling with laughter till the play ends. The audience will be encouraged to laugh out loud rather than snigger. It is fast paced, hilarious, boisterously entertaining, rib tickling, rib roaring and an outrageous comedy. The play premieres in Mumbai in the month of April.

Jamai ho to aisa!
Wednesday, August 09, 2006  19:12 IST

Print Article Most Emailed Articles   RSS Feed Most Viewed Articles   Search This Site < =http://www.google.com/custom method=get 1="http://www.google.com/search">< = value=UTF-8 name=ie> < = value=UTF-8 name=oe> < = value=www.dnaindia.com name=domains> < = value=www.dnaindia.com name=sitesearch> < = value=GALT:#b70000;S:http://www.dnaindia.com/;GL:0;AH:center;LH:138;GFNT:#67679c;L:http://www.dnaindia.com/images/dna-search.gif;LW:760;AWFID:4ee9c210b45a3f1c; name=cof> < id=q ="if(this.value=='Search this site')this.value=''" maxLength=255 size=15 name=q>   < =text/> < src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js" =text/> < name=google_ads_ marginWidth=0 marginHeight=0 src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/ads?client=ca-pub-8331061652869281&dt=1157373736958&lmt=1157373736&alternate_ad_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dnaindia.com%2Fgoogle_adsense_.&at=250x250_as&output=&channel=3461405528&url=http%3A%2F%2F72.14.209.104%2Fsearch%3Fq%3Dcache%3A6H4jwHe64EEJ%3Awww.dnaindia.com%2Freport.asp%253FNewsID%253D1046286%2Bkirti%2Bgaekwad%26hl%3Den%26gl%3Dae%26ct%3Dclnk%26cd%3D16&color_bg=FFFFFF&color_text=444444&color_link=00306F&color_url=00306F&color_border=FFFFFF&ad_=text_image&ref=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.ae%2Fsearch%3Fq%3Dkirti%2Bgaekwad%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26start%3D10%26sa%3DN&cc=226&u_h=600&u_w=800&u_ah=570&u_aw=800&u_cd=32&u_tz=240&u_his=20&u_java=true" Border=0 width=250 scrolling=no height=250 allowTransparency> Playing Nahar Singh in the popular show 'Saat Phere' (Zee) has won actor Sharad Kelkar massive female votes. "Women want a son-in-law like me. I often hear them remark, 'Jamai ho to aisa!' Recently, I was in the US and girls there were heartbroken to hear that I was married," reveals Sharad excitedly. He continues, "I auditioned for the part on the recommendation of my friend and actor Shweta Kawaatra who was also a part of the show earlier. I suited the role of a Rajasthani aristocrat perefectly."  Sharad has no qualms doing a woman-oriented show. He reasons, "All the characters are as important as Saloni (Rajashree Thakur). So there is a lot of scope to emote." Speaking about his team he says, "There's a lot of fun and games on the sets without any ego hassles. Rajashree and I get along well. We are like two mischievous kids set on the loose." Incidentally, Sharad has done shows 'Aakrosh' (DD), 'Bhabhi' (Star Plus) 'CID Special Squad' (Sony) and 'Sinndoor Tere Naam Ka'(Zee) earlier. He holds fond memories of 'Aakrosh' because he met his wife and actor Kirti Gaekwad on the sets of this show. He recalls, "There were absolutely no vibes between us at that time. It was only later when we were called to audition for 'CID' that the sparks flew. Though I got selected, Kirti didn't fit in because of her soft features. But the meeting did bring us come closer." Married for a year now, Nahaar is blissful. "I would love to spend more time with my wife. I was working for two dailies which meant 16 hours of work. I have given up one show and am concentrating only on 'Saat Phere'," says the devoted husband.

Winning Moves: Sharad Kelkar

Text by Jayashree Menon and Photographs by Ankur Chaturvedi

Published: Volume 14, Issue 2, March-April, 2006

National award-winning actor and a man of many roles, Sharad Kelkar, is capitalising on his chemistry with the camera Originally a Gwalior guy, Sharad Kelkar, is a Grasim Mr India finalist; an MBA in marketing and now, the undisputed hunk factor of two Zee serials - Sindoor and Saat Phere. His journey into showbiz began with advertising. A small cameo in the offbeat National Award-winning Marathi film, Uttarayan, whetted his appetite and he started doing the rounds of production houses. A cop's role in Akrosh, a few episodes in Bhabhi and Sharad's television innings was off to a good start. Along the way he met and married TV actor, Kirti Gaekwad. The twosome continues their romance as an on-screen couple in Sindoor. With him doing two dailies and the missus doing three, quality time together is a premium.