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Sangeeta Ghosh

Dreaming big
My main criteria for accepting a role is that I have to like the people I’m going to work with. The role comes next because basically I want to feel free on the sets. I take life as it comes, and frankly I am not at all a professional actress as yet.

Like any other middle class girl, Sangeeta Ghosh dreamed of getting herself educated till graduation level and then settle down in matrimony. But by the time she was in her teens, she had made a splash on the television screen. And marriage obviously took a back seat.

When some of the directors she had worked with appreciated her work, Sangeeta decided to settle down in the acting arena. And with that the “middle class dream” faded away. Initially, she was fascinated by the trappings of the showbiz world - the name, fame, money and the attention one gets at home and outside. Whether it was because of the age factor or immaturity, she didn’t take acting all that seriously. She also felt that acting is a kid’s job. But it was veteran director Lekh Tandon who changed her thought and perception about acting. “He made me understand that acting is a serious pursuit and if I didn’t take it seriously I will reach nowhere,” recalls Sangeeta.

As a kid she used to participate in Durga pooja shows and it was there that Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s assistant, Arun Chakravarti, spotted her and asked her to meet his boss. Sangeeta was then just 11 years old and when she went to meet the veteran director she was dead nervous. “Hrishida asked me to cry and I became so nervous that the tears just rolled down my cheeks,” she remembers. Obviously she passed the test as Mukherjee finalised her for a role in Hum Hindustani that was telecast on Doordarshan.

Along with studies, acting went on as a hobby. She did Basu Chatterji’s two tele-films, Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Rishtey, a few “horrible” morning and afternoon Doordarshan serials and Dheeraj Kumar’s Sansaar. In Sansaar, her role was small but as the serial got innumerable extensions, the role grew in terms of footage. Then Lekh Tandon offered her a bit role in Kurukshetra. But the serial that brought her into the limelight was Daraar.

“Lekhji liked my work in Kurukshetra and offered me the role of Divya Deth’s sister in Daraar. And he assured me that by the time the serial comes to an end I would by a highly recognised face on television. That’s exactly what happened. I just loved doing the serial because it was a great learning experience,” she gushes.

Another serial that she thoroughly enjoyed doing is the Lekh Tandon-directed Adhikar. “I didn’t have a major role in it but it was definitely an interesting romantic character,” she smiles.

There are some more tele-projects she has done like Prayschit, Suhana Safar and quite a few stand-off episodes of shows like Ajeeb Dastaan, Aahat, Saturday Suspense and Rishtey. And currently she appears on the tele-screen in Pankaj Roy’s Agnipath, playing an illegitimate daughter of Shahbaz Khan who tries to take revenge against him.

She has also done about ten pilots, some of which like Mehndi Tera Naam Ki and Dhoondo Dhoondo Re Sajna are sure to come on air. The latter is slated for telecast on STAR Plus and Sangeeta is looking forward to its telecast because it’s for the first time that she is doing a comedy show.

A pampered kid at home and a jovial starlet on the sets, Sangeeta says her main criteria for accepting a role is she has to like the people she is going to work with. “The role comes next because basically I want to feel free on the sets,” she giggles. The giggle signifies a kiddish streak in her personality. “I take life as it comes,” she confesses. “And frankly I am not all that a professional actress as yet.”

Sangeeta doesn’t believe in romantic alliances and affair but she doesn’t mind verbal flirtation. “As long as it’s harmless, healthy and within limits, it’s fun,” she giggles again. As far as the showbiz people are concerned, she likes those who are good at their work and gets easily influenced by them. She also likes getting attached to “good” people “because that’s how you make friends.”

Of course she is happy doing serials but if you think she is totally satisfied doing only serials then you have got it all wrong. She is ambitious and highly interested in doing films as well. Only so far there are no offers.

AL Chougule