Pratibha Ranta’s portrayal of Chahat Baig Dhyani, a good-hearted and honest character in the ongoing fiction series Qurbaan Hua, has resonated well with the audience. The actor expresses her gratitude towards the show’s makers, Sonali Jaffar and Amir Jaffar, for entrusting her with such a significant role.
“Chahat is always ready to sacrifice her happiness for others. She’s both strong and loving. I don’t think I’ve reached that stage in my life wherein I have sacrificed my happiness for someone the way she does. I’ve been playing this character for a year now and somewhere I feel connected to her. I’ve learnt so much, and I feel there are many more shades to this interesting character that we would get unravelled in the future,” she adds.
While she enjoys being Chahat on-screen, Ranta understands that as an actor one needs to learn the art of dissociation as well. “It’s not easy but you’ve to be that sort of an actor who can leave his/her character behind on set once the job gets done. Initially I was not taking my character home but when I started relating to it, I did falter. But now I’ve learnt. I hope that I keep getting such substantial roles given that the industry is churning interesting real and relatable content. The audience too wants to watch such stories. The TV industry is evolving is not just the way they are experimenting with narratives but also for presenting them so well,” she says. Happy with the “phenomenal response” around Chahat, the actor shares being worried initially as this is her first show and adding to that she is portraying an intense character. “So when I started getting so much love, I kind of felt motivated to do better every single time,” says Ranta, who feels the title of the show is perfect. “Whenever I think of Qurbaan Hua, it reminds me of love and sacrifice. I believe when you sacrifice something for your love, your love becomes stronger. The show is about how Chahat sacrificing her life first for her father, then for the love of her life, Neel, and then for her father-in-law and probably now incoming episodes she’ll do the same for her kids too,” she adds.
For her first show, Ranta was concerned about how things would turn out but was grateful to have the support of the producer duo and the team at Full House Media. “Sonali ma’am and Amir sir make you feel like their own. Ma’am really treats me like her daughter. Because my family stays in Shimla, she takes care of me in my mother’s absence,” she adds. The best thing about the entertainment industry, according to Ranta, “It’s filled with amazingly talented people. There is so much to learn here. I love how an actor can live so many different lives… After a hard day at work, when I unwind, I always smile thinking that I’ve made some good friends here.”
Ranta expresses concern about the pandemic taking a turn for the worse, Ranta adds, “We’re trying to do as much work we can to keep up with our show while following all safety measures. In these bleak times we want to provide people some relief and I hope we are able to continue shooting as we also need to make sure people are employed.”