Veteran actress, Nimisha Vakharia, who is playing the mute mother of Tenali Rama, in the SAB TV show of the same name, says it is too early to judge the performance of the new Sharda, now essayed by Niya Sharma (not to be mixed up with Nia Sharma of Ek Hazaaron Mein Meri Behna Hai). Priyamvada Kant had quit, for she did not want to play a mother on screen. All of Lakshamma’s dialogues have to be mouthed by the Sharda character.
“The latter had been doing the same role for the past one year and it has been just one month for Niya. And each actor has a different method of approaching the character. At the end of the day, it is the audience that decides who is better; we are just doing our job.”
Talking about her character, Nimisha says, “It was a challenge, for you had to express yourself only through facial and hand gestures. I am happy that my hard work has paid off. I feel blessed that my character has been loved and appreciated so much. I have always improvised as an artist in all my shows and continue to do the same here as well.”
“I guess it is the story and team effort of this historical and comic genre show,” she says, when asked as to what made the show romp ahead.
Looking ahead, she would now want to try her hand at web series. “I have heard that Amazon and Netflix are doing well. One of the main reasons for the same could be that, unlike TV, digital content makers have time on hand.”
“TV content has surely regressed, but then you can’t blame anyone. Quality will dip if you only look at numbers and output. You also have to deliver your 5 episodes every week, come riots or flood. There is no time to work on the creative aspect, when you are working 25 days a month.”
Interestingly, when we asked Nimisha about the overdose of s*x and abuse on the WWW, she says, “I too have heard about it but can’t really comment, as I don’t have proper network on my set to watch web series on my phone.”
In closing, Nimisha, who has been around for years, doing shows such as Baa Bahoo Aur Baby and Sasural Simar Ka, etc., says, “There is not much left to explore on TV after doing negative and comedy. I am not very kicked about positive mother roles. It is too late for me to dance around trees now. Having said that, as an artist, I feel I have a long way to go before I hang up my boots. So I will try to experiment with all other mediums.”
