Sudha Chandran, who has been away from television for a while now, is back with a mini-series titled Naagin on Colors. For this show, Sudha has teamed up with Ekta Kapoor’s Balaji Telefilms, who gave her the iconic character of Ramola Sikand in Kaahin Kissii Roz.
Sudha says, “I have been doing a lot of work in the South and just when I was planning to come back to Hindi television, Ekta offered me this role. It has been a wonderful journey with Ekta. Ramola was a turning point in my career. I had a certain image in Mayuri (the film) and people never expected that Mayuri could be Ramola. If people don’t want to cast you, they give you this stupid excuse that it’s because you don’t fit into a certain image. But Ekta doesn’t believe that. She has never taken ideas from other people. She is her own competitor. Whenever there’s monotony on television, she’s the only person to shake people up and make them realise that this is not the end of TV.”
Coming back to the show, Naagin is a supernatural concept. Does she believe in the supernatural outside the realm of her work? “I’m totally a supernatural freak in real life. A lot of people say that they are very modern and don’t believe in it. But at midnight if you are alone on the road and something happens behind you, you get all sorts of ideas. This idea is unexplored on Indian television and that I believe is the show’s USP.”
Sudha adds that a major reason for taking up the show is that it is a mini-series. “This show is just 36 episodes, whereas other shows are already planned for five-six years in advance. I have committed to projects in the South including the Malayalam version of Saath Nibhaana Saathiya where I play Kokilaben. Since this involved limited episodes, I took it up. It worked well for my calendar.”
And what about her other show HRX Heroes? “Again, it was something that just happened — it wasn’t planned. But yes, the audience will get to see a different side of me. I feel loved and grateful for all the love people have given me over the years.”
