s

SUPRIYA KARNIK

Upward mobility!

She’s been an air-hostess and the PR person for an international airline. But it is with acting that Supriya Karnik feels that has found her true metier. A look at this sassy tele-star.

There is this fleeting thought at the back of my mind to do something more in this field. I feel direction is the best option. The change will come only after another five years. Right now I am concentrating on establishing my career.

She claims to have a “mobile” face which can suit any role from the bitchy woman, and the homely girl to a collegian and a housewife. SHe says she can play the vamp just as effectively as a positive character. The proud owner of this “mobile” face is Supriya Karnik whose main criteria for accepting a role is that it should have meat and psychological depth.

Before acting happened to her five years ago, she was a model, an airhostess and a public relations officer. A reluctant starter, she quit her job only when she saw a bright future for herself in acting. The move paid off for this career-minded girl who calls herself a “sincere student of acting”.

Supriya did small-time modelling assignments for the “extra money” to pursue her passions like trekking and travelling. Starting as a junior assistant in the office of a leading Mumbai-based daily, she quit her job and joined Saudia airlines as a hostess. She was happy flying all over the world, but when she was transfered to Jeddah, she quit and joined Modiluft as a public relations officer.

Even as a PR professional she had no intention of making a carrer move. But yes, she was open to doing commercials and hence her pix were in circulation. Ravi Chopra happened to see some of those photographs and in came a call from BR TV for a role in Kanoon. “I knew nothing about screen tests until I appeared for one. I was selected for a longish story called Lapata Laash of the Kanoon series,” remembers Supriya. A few shows like Ek Se Badkar Ek and Jhansi Ki Rani followed, but she wasn’t ready to quit her day-job just yet.

What changed her mind was an offer from Ravi Chopra for a plum role in Bada Aadmi. “It was a big serial and the role was really wonderful,” says Supriya. Call it bad luck or bad timing, the serial never came on air. However, she did get enough time to rue her decision because offers started coming her way in a steady stream. Resultantly, she became quite busy with serials like Shanti, Agni, Daastan-e-Hatim Tai, Jaal, Badalte Rishtey and Shatranj. Of course Shatranj was her major serial at that time because she was playing the lead role. But after being on air for one and half years, Supriya was asked to pack her bags. Reason? “I really don’t know why I was asked to quit the serial mid-way,” she says diplomatically.

The Shatranj episode gave a sudden jolt to her career, but she was hoping to do better with Romesh Sharma’s Usool and couple of other projects she had in her kitty. “I had a great role in Usool opposite Danny,” says Supriya. But soon she was disappointed as Usool did not take off and was forced off the air. Besides, the other projects she was banking on heavily also remained in the cans. “Actu-ally this is a very insecure field and therefore you have to constantly plan your career moves which I didn’t do in the beginning,” she analyses. “So I had to suffer a few setbacks. But now I have wisened up and have good rapport with some of the good producers.”

Currently she has four serials on air - the daily soap Intezaar Aur Sahi, the weeklies Beta, Chingari and Tejaswani. But her favourite show is Intezaar Aur Sahi where she plays an educated rich wife who doesn’t get along with her mother-in-law and walks out of the house. “It’s not a negative role,” she clarifies. “It’s just that she is aggressive and dominating. What I like about the role is its grey shades.”

Her next favourite serial is Tejaswani “because I have a wonderful role of a married woma who is in love with her brother-in-law with whom she ends up having an affair.” In Chingari she plays a negative role of a money-minded and greedy woman. And in Beta, says Supriya, her track has just started but the role is somewhat similar to the one Rakhee played in Trishul.

Ask her whether doing four on-air serials is lot of work and she says it’s bit taxing but she would love to do more shows. “I would like to have more serials on air because you never know which serial will go off air suddenly,” she reasons. “There are actors who are working in eight serials at a time. And if others can manage with that much work, so can I.”

For the next couple of years she plans to don the grease paint and face the arc lights. And after having achieved name, fame and recognition, she wants to get behind the camera. “There is this fleeting thought at the back of my mind to do something more in this field. I feel direction is the best option,” she says. “The change will come only after another five years. Right now I am concentrating on establishing my career.”

When queried what does she feel about showbiz and the people around her, Supriya diplomatically says it’s a nice field. “There are lot of thinking, creative and intellectual people here,” she explains. “But there are also some people who are out to play hookie. So one has to keep away from them.”

A. L. Cougule