Shubhavi Choksey, who plays a very rich uptown Kolkata Bhadralok lady in Star Plus show, Kasautii Zindagii Kay, does not regard her character as negative. “You might call Mohini Basu greyish, for she looks down upon the Sharmas (Prerna family) for not being socially and financially on par with them. But that is how many affluent people are.”
“Also, is it wrong to be very sure of what one wants? The biggest trait in Mohini is her love for Anurag (Parth Samthaan), holding him above everything. I will not call her obsessed, but yes, she is very possessive about him.”
Shubhavi has not seen the original Kasautii, so I have no clue about how the then Mrs Basu behaved. I’d rather create my own niche depending on the creative team and the director’s (Muzammil Desai) brief.”
“I guess what separates us from other TV content is the richness of scale. We all are working very hard to fulfil Ekta’s vision. There is one major change since the days of the original Kasautii. Today, acting has become much more natural for sure.”
Shubhavi, who began her acting career years back with Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, is now back with the same PH. “Balaji knows what they want and also takes good care of their artists. Post- marriage, I had taken a long sabbatical and now am back with a bang.”
She has no problem playing mother on screen. “Mohini is actually a decade older than me, but I have no issues, for being a mother is very important in the Indian context. And if you marry early, your kids grow up when you are still young.”
While Mohini bats for other formats that go beyond traditional TV, where woman are not seen only as mother and wife, she would not be game for web series having lots of skin show and explicit stuff.
When asked about her equation with the leads, Erica Fernandes and Parth, she says, “Not only with them, I share great bonding with all the actors (Pooja Banerjee and Uday Tikekar) who make up my on-screen family. We share lunches and prefer to chat in one makeup van rather than sitting alone.”