Television actress Kritika Kamra wants to make a strong mark with her serial Prem Ya Paheli Chandrakanta. This is the remake of the once-popular serial and will be aired on Life OK. Kamra plays the title role. Explaining that while all her characters until date have been “independent, strong-headed and contemporary,” she says that her current unusual choice is to break into the fantasy genre “that now rules the TRPs of Indian television soaps.”
She is a shade worried that the role might typecast her in the damsel-in- distress to be protected category, but asserts that her character is “neither spineless nor a ‘bechari’.” Though she does not personally relate to the role of a princess, she made an exception as “Chandrakanta” is a “home-grown fantasy.” “There are a lot of American shows like this, but, I think ‘Chandrakanta’ is one of the first Hindi fantasy shows,” says the very beautiful Kritika Kamra.
“I am a feminist and I am inclined to choose roles that have more meat and spunk as opposed to the victim. There’s nothing wrong with the other characters, but I personally prefer to be a part of stories I like watching and talking about,” she added.
Kamra admits that her first reaction was “Why me? I am not at all like this!” But that was also the challenge for her. She also found the team’s belief in her very encouraging. She says, “I have always wanted to work on something that is mainstream, but not the saas-bahu soaps, and this is it.”
Having watched “Chandrakanta” as a child, Kamra consciously stayed away from watching it now because she wanted to give her own interpretation. The challenge especially was that nothing could be taken as a reference point from real life to help essay her character.
Way to go, Kritika!!