Veteran film and TV actress Tanvi Azmi, who is making a return to small screen with a double role in & TV show Vani Rani, talks to IndianWikiMedia.com about the show and the medium.

Tanvi has been part of TV from the good old days of  Doordarshan (Mirza Ghalib). So what do she feel about the medium then and now?

“TV was always been huge, today with more option of watching  content  on various social media platforms, the medium has only got bigger,” says the veteran star.

Any small screen conversation with Tanvi is incomplete without  reference to Life Line back in early nineties, “It would be wrong to compare this to Life Line, as the latter DD medical drama ran only for 22 episodes while Vani Rani is a daily.  Back then, since serials were few so appreciation was quicker, today with so many shows on offer getting the same love and affection is a tough ask.  A series now needs to run for 500-600 episodes before being hailed as great.”

“Hence, I would rather compare Vani Rani to my other daily shows (Sinndoor Tere Naam Ka) . The effort put in is the same.   One major change which I observe is in the technical side, since many projects are being made, they have now mastered the art and hence work moves at lightning speed.”

Continuing, she says, “Enacting a double role means much more work.  Also when we do scenes where both protagonists are present, we obviously have to shoot the scene twice. Where we try to change the game is that we don’t just try to get reaction from one, we try to ensure that there is some interaction. Also as an artist it is my job to make both my avatars appear as distinct as possible.”

Being a true artist, Tanvi does not feel satisfied with her scene, even if the creative team tells her it is fine, “I need to be satisfied from within as a performer, till then I remain on edge.”

She also accepts that she is lucky to have got a lead TV role at her age.  “I know this normally does not happen on TV.  Having said that I still believe that small screen offers a better second innings to women rather than films.  While male actors like Rishi Kapoor,  Boman Irani and  Anupam Kher etc get superb characters, we women artists are not that lucky,” shares Tanvi who got National Film Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Bajirao Mastani.

Ask about current so called regression in Indian telly she says, “Sadly, a lot of it still exists in society, hence it finds takers. But I don’t want to part of such shows.”

In closing, Tanvi says her biggest fear is TRP pulls and pressures. “The storylines of my earlier show also went for a toss due to the same.  I am also equally aware that ratings are not my headache, I have to just put in my best.  All I can hope is that something similar does not happen to our show, we have good content, so fingers crossed.”

We wish her all the best.