Ishq Aaj Kal is not pure love: Ankita Sharma

Ankita Sharma, last seen in Ek Shringaar-Swabhiman, is elated at the response to her new Zee5 thriller web series, Ishq Aaj Kal. “This Creative Eye presentation has already become a hit. No wonder we plan to start shoot of season 4. I don’t think we can go beyond the fourth part, given the genre. However, I have no final word on that.”

Here, self-confessed old school Ankita says, “Our hotel-based story also shows different forms of love practised by millennials. I am not a big fan of casual hook-ups which seem to be the new in-thing, as shown even in the show for some characters.”

“Rather, I prefer the old style of romance as practised on screen by my character Alia and her love interest Arshad, played by Angad Hasija. It is sad that this pure form of loving is fading out.”

“What I really like about my character is that the creative have made her very real. It is not that she does not lose her top or in a weak moment even boozes. Most girls do it, right?”

“Also, I am happy that our show does not have nudity and lovemaking.”

“Having said that, down the road, if I do get a web story that requires above elements I might consider it. But I am not open for series that will only use s*x as a means to get eyeballs.”

Ankita, who started her TV career with a reality show, Ticket to Bollywood, first found her calling with the Zee TV show Lajwanti. “Unfortunately, it did not do well on the ratings front and went off air soon.”

Coming to Colors show, Ek Shringaar-Swabhiman, she says, “I always wanted to collaborate with the makers of superhit sanskari films like Hum Aapke Hain Kaun, Vivah, etc., though I always found it tough to swallow the saccharine sweet characters. Do such people even exist in society?”

In closing, Ankita says, “I am glad I took up Ishq Aaj Kal, for at first I was not sure, given that I was coming out of my TV comfort zone. And secondly, I was unsure of how people will receive the show as it is not on TV. So you have to take the initiative to first go online, and then even subscribe to the channel. But luckily, my fears were belied and my leap of faith hit pay dirt.”