It has been eight years since she last faced the camera. Marriage and motherhood kept Kamia Malhotra busy but now the lady who became a regular in our homes during Hum Log, is back on the small screen ...

Kamia Malhotra was a familiar face to telly watchers during Hum Log and Buniyaad's long run. And then she vanished into the blue,to reemerge after eight years in Kohra, a thriller on STAR plus. What prompted the sudden comeback, was the query uppermost on our mind. "It wasn't sudden. The decision was taken after a lost of thought and second thoughts," Kamia smiles. "My husband and inlaws have been producing me to get back to acting and I also felt that it wasn't fair to chuck up my career just like that, so here I am."

Decision taken, Kamia took the first flight out form the capital and within

days of moving to Mumbai she bumped into Anant Mahadevan whose wife she had played in Shridhar Kshirsagar's serial Ghar Jamai. When Kamia informed Anant about her decision to return to acting, he offered her a role in a serial he was directing. It took her just two minutes to accept the offer adn with her doting ma-in-law and hubby managing home and hearth, Kamia had all the time in the world to concentrate on her character. After four episodes of Khora, her phone started ringing again with old television colleagues congratulating her and producers offering her plum projects.

Thirteen years ago in 1984 when 17-years-old Kamia had just passed her SSC exams and her father was trying to coax her to join the National School of Drama, writer Manohar Shyam Joshi and family friend, producer P. Kumar whisked her off to join the cast of Hum Log. Kamia didn't know the ABC of acting then but that didn't deter the two veterans who wanted new faces for India's first soap. She was offered two choices-she could play Abhinav Chaturvedi's (Nanhe) girlfriend or the middle sister, Majli (a role later played by Divya Seth). Kamia chose to paly the girlfriend despite the fact that Majli would be there in many more episodes. "It was more substantial and I knew Abhinav well. We had studied in school togehter," she explains.

Most of the actors were based in Delhi and apart from Abhinav,she got to know Vinod Nagpal, Sushma Seth and Divya Seth pretty well. "Shooting for the serial was like one long and enjoyable picnic,"she reminisces.

Kamia vividly recalls the day the serial was first telecast on DD. It was July 7, 1984 and the months that followed were dizzying for the teenager. She was flooded with fun-mail especially from the teen crowd. "I was staying at Delhi's defence colony with my parents at the time and everyday crowds of schoolgirls would come home to compliment me. All of them made it a point to watch the serial despite their tight schedules," she beams.

Hum Log was followed by Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi, Ghar Jamai, Buniyaad, Khandaan and Nukkad. She even shot for a film, Vishwas produced by Rajeev Chowdhary and directed by Shibu Mitra, starring Shashi Kapoor, the late Smita Patil, Raj Babbar and Raj Kiran. A song was picturised on her and Raj Kiran at Mehboob studio. After eleven reels Smita Patil suddenly died and the project was shelved. "It was one hell of a great subject," Kamia sighs.

She perks up when you mention Buniyaad. "Doing the serial one experienced the trauma of prepartition days which one had only heard of till then from our grandparents," she remembers misty-eyed. The serial was later taken over by Sippy's assistant director Jyoti Sarup and that's when trouble started for Kamia. There were shocking stories about her alleged showdown with Jyoti Sarup and her subsequent decision to walk out of the serial. "I was misquoted," she snaps. "Today I understand why top stars say `no comments' to controversial questions. I have become wary of journalists after that experience." Fortunately for Kamia, she met her Mr Right while Mungerilal Ke Hasen Sapne. Satyasheel Khosla was co-producingthe serial with Prakash Jha. "I didn't know he was the co-producer and I often wondered why he dropped on the sets so often to meet Prakash Jha. I was finally introduced to him one day in April and seven months later we were married. It was a whirlwind courtship," she blushes.

Her husband was also into advertising and exports and imports and his business was based in Delhi. Kamia's work was in Mumbai and since she didn't want to be away from him she quit acting and settled down to being a good haus frau. "My husband didn't force me to stop working. I was the one who wanted to make a successs of my marriage," she clarifies.

In fact, it was at the instance of her own husband that she decided to get back into acting. "Satyasheel was very keen that I get back to my work. He said it wasn't fair to let go of my acting career. He was the major reason whiy I decided to come back. I don't think I have missed much. Fair enough, I'd be acting all along for these eight years but I wouldn't have beem married and I wouldn't have had these two little lovely kids. It was like experiencing the excitement of both family and professional life."

Now that she has made her decision for good, Kamia is busy trying to choose roles which have a distinct character defination. "I am being careful because today with so many channels on, it is difficult to trace which actor or actress is involved in which serial," she says. Recently, she bumped in to one of her co-stars Raj Kiran after a gap of almost thirteen years and they talked to each other like long lost friends. She has been trying to catch up on other old pals too. "Some of them have quit television and some others have consolidated their positions." But it seems like yesterday for Kamia Malhotra. "Looks like the acting bug has gotten into me again," she says while she gets ready to catch a flight to Delhi.