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Professional No.1
Unlike many of her tribe who say that
they never intended to enter the world of arclights and grease paint and
acting just happened to them, 
Aparna
Banerjee is candid enough to admit that she always wanted to be an actress.
So obviously when an offer came on a platter, she had no hesitation in
accepting the same.
Though she made a start as an anchor-person three years ago, Aparna is
currently being seen in two comedies on rival channels - Family No.1 (Sony)
and Hello Friends (Zee). And since she is doing precisely what she likes
- making people laugh - Aparna says she is having a great time.
But before she made her presence felt in tele-shows, this peppy, bubbly
and charming lady was a well-known model. It was while she was in college
that Aparna, encouraged by friends, had got her portfolio done and despatched
her pictures to advertising agencies. After making a few rounds of the
agencies, she landed her first campaign for a talcum power called Santoor
Talc. Aparna didn’t look back after that as ad campaigns came her
way in a steady stream for products ranging from beauty care, shampoo,
soft drinks, soap to hair oil. Within four years she had done more than
40 commercials.
As one thing leads to another, Aparna was noticed in one of her commercials
and in came a call from Sony Entertainment Television to anchor The Popadum
Show which was directed by Fahad Samar. And since the countdown shows
were ‘in’ then, Aparna decided to give it a try.
However, she clarifies that Popadum Show was not a plain countdown show
as it involved a fair amount of acting also. “My co-host Ravi Iyer
used to enact different characters and I had to interact with him besides
anchoring the programme,” she explains. “So I was not just the
VJ but I also acted in it. And honestly it was great, great fun.”
She did Poppadum Show for nearly one and half years and after that she
got a call from Binaifer Kohli for her sitcom Family No.1 which revolves
around two single parents with three children each sharing a bungalow
where Aparna plays Kanwaljeet’s teenage daughter Rashmi who is so
obsessed with her looks that she is always combing her shot tresses and
changing clothes ten times in a day. “I just love playing Rashmi
because I am not doing the character in a fake manner,” gushes Aparna
who is having a great time doing the sitcom. “My director (Sameer
Kulkarni) is too good at his job and he takes the best out of me. Besides
Kuku (Kanwaljeet) and Tanvi (Azmi) are great people to work with. Those
eight days in a month when we shoot for Family No.1, it’s like a
picnic for all of us.”
While Family No.1 is all about two single parents who eventually fal in
love and get married, Hello Friends revolves around six friends who share
a great camaraderie and always try to solve each others problems, be they
financial, professional, personal, marital or problems of love. Here Aparna
plays Maya, a rich girl who runs away from home to avoid marriage to a
dentist and starts living with her friends who, one moment could be flirting
with each other while the very next moment they could be fighting.
Talking about her role in Hello Friends, Aparna says it’s a character
of a girl who was born with a silver spoon in her mouth and doesn’t
know how difficult life is outside her father’s house which she realises
when she joins her friends and starts working as a waitress in Uncle Sam’s
Cafe which is her friend’s favourite haunt. Aparna agrees that Hello
Friends which is a copy of America’s Friends is a bold sitcom aimed
at adult viewers and tackles topics like the dangers of AIDS, sexual relationships
and smoking. “But basically it’s a fun sitcom with a definite
message,” she adds.
Aparna feels one requires lot of energy and perfect timing to do comedy
and she enjoys doing comedy because “I love making people laugh.”
However, she doesn’t want to stick to comedy alone and wants to explore
serious roles as well. “I have done two stories of X-Zone with Ketan
Mehta and the roles were pretty serious and I was also appreciated for
my performances,” she smiles.
She doesn’t know whether she is a natural actess but strongly feels
that to act one has to have a germ of acting in you. “Either you
have it or you don’t and if you have a little potential, you can
explore it and honn your talent with experience and learn the technique,”
she reasons. “Though I have never been trained in acting I have the
potential to intepret my role and play it the way I want to.”
Since acting is what she always wanted to do, she is a full time actress
now despite marriage and motherhood. “I don’t take it as a double
responsibility,” she elaborates. “I take life as one journey
and home, marriage, family, child and career are parts of the same journey.”
An optimist to the core, she says nothing can put her down. “Even
if I am down and out for some time I bounce back to my normal self because
of my confidence and optimistic attitude,” she observes.
Very choosy about her roles, Aparna says she is totally against doing
pilots. “I only accept approved projects,” she informs. “And
I am also against doing more than two or three serials at a time because
I don’t think I can do justice to all of them.”
AL Chougule