Minissha lamba, who has forayed on TV as a vishkanya in SabTV’s Tenali Rama, talks to Sangeeta Yadav about working on this show and how TV is evolving
I always wanted to do a historical or a folklore show and play a mythical character like vishkanya in Tenali Rama that would bring a lot of twists and turns in the show. This gives a lot of scope to do new things and experiment. I had read about Tenali Rama when I was studying in Chennai as he is very popular in South. But I never imagined if I would ever be able to dramatise the folklore and play an integral character like this one. I am looking forward to more such good work on the small screen.
To learn shudh Hindi. A lot of words that were used during those times by the king and courtesans were from Devnagri dialect. I had to learnt all that on the sets while working with others. Another challenge was to get in the look of vishkanya that used to take me two-and-a-half hours and then to carry myself in the heavy costume, jewellery and makeup for the entire day. But the best part is I get to wear Indian clothes. I love to look as Indian as possible rather than western.
It was a fun experience working with everyone on the set, though a spent more time chilling with other actresses.
I have been looking for a good opportunity to foray into TV for a while now. But the right role didn’t come to me at that time. Tenali Rama is a great show to start off my TV journey as I love folklore and costume drama.
That is the easiest and fastest thing to shoot with. Once you are an actor, you are used to shooting in all kinds of situation and in every circumstance.
We are making a TV show to entertain the audience as they like to watch folklore. We are catering to a demand. I think people love to watch mythical characters like that of dayans and naagins and we, as actors, get to experiment with varied roles which is amazing.
I am learning and taking baby steps in the industry. I have observed that the number of hours and the hardwork everyone puts in is commendable. People work behind the scene without any break. It requires a lot of resilience and stamina. It takes a very strong person to put in those grueling hours every single day.
People like to form opinions and put it out on the social media platform without thinking logically and sensibly. The challenge is to continue to believe in yourself and remain confident despite what criticism you read about yourself online. It is easy to be confident when you are successful. But it is about when things are not going well that is when you face those challenges. Be confident in the face of criticism. Everyone is a professional and because of that they know how to handle the crticism and are here. Being a celebrity is stressful. But after sometime, you learn how to handle it and everything becomes a part of who you are.