(Come) back with a bang

This seems to be the season of comebacks on television, with all the yesteryear’s stars popping back on-screen in different avatars after nearly a decade.
In the upcoming show Tere Sheher Mein, Gautami Kapoor makes a comeback playing the wife of a business tycoon whose life changes with her husband’s unexpected death and the seizure of all their properties by banks in the aftermath.

Sachin Tyagi, too, will be seen after ages playing Gautami’s husband in the same show, though his role will end a few episodes into the soap. After moving away from TV to concentrate on movies, Ram Kapoor is back to playing lead in the soon to be launched Dil Ki Baatein Dil Hi Jaane, where he is playing a devoted husband who refuses to believe that he will lose his wife to cancer.

Shweta Tiwari is also back to the land of soaps following a long gap. After playing the long-suffering good wife in her previous roles, Shweta will be seen playing a manipulative dancing girl who is set to tear a Thakur family apart in Begusarai, Bihar. Saumya Tandon will also be seen after nearly seven years. She will be playing a former Miss Kanpur in the comedy Bhabi Ji Ghar Par Hai.

So, what made these actors stay away from daily soaps for so long? And how do they plan to get back into this hectic world? “I stayed away for almost eight years because of my kids. My son and daughter were born within a short gap and I wanted to be with them when they were babies,” says Gautami Kapoor.

But when she got a call from the producers for Tere Sheher... her kids were grown up and she had her mother and mother-in-law as support structures, so she decided to take the role as it was the perfect comeback for her. She says she never wanted to sit at home and do nothing. Gautami isn’t put off by TV’s crazy schedules as she says they have been shooting in a very organised manner and even have a lot of episodes in the bank.

While Gautami has come back with a meaty role, what made Sachin Tyagi take up a cameo. “I opted for this show because I always wanted to work with Rajan Shahi who is producing the show. Apart from this, since some parts of the soap are being shot in Paris, I decided to say yes as this gave me the opportunity to visit my aunt who lives there.”

For Sachin, however, this is not a comeback as he says he has been doing a lot of other things too. And about his role being a cameo, he teases, “Wait and watch.” Saumya Tandon says she said no to every offer that came her way for seven years till the script for Bhabi Ji Ghar Par Hai came her way. Elaborating on the script that tempted her to accept the role, she says, “I play Anita, a gorgeous woman who happens to be ex-Miss Kanpur. She pursues her love for grooming and gives grooming classes to the ladies in her neighbourhood. Anita represents the woman of today, who believes in handling both work and home very well.”

Saumya, too, isn’t worried about the hard work as she says, “It’s a happy show filled with laughter. My co-stars are all seasoned actors and my director Shashank is sorted and quick with his work.” Another actor who is happy to get back to work is Shweta Tiwari. “I decided to take a break to spend time with my family after I got married. Also, no exciting scripts came my way. But my current role, where I play a dancing girl called Bindiya who lives in Begusarai, a small area in Bihar where the Thakur family is based, is very different. She has all the bahubalis in the city crazy about her. She uses this to her advantage as a way to escape her poverty and enter the Thakur family.”

Shweta doesn’t mind the endless hours of shoot simply because, “TV is an exciting medium and it’s great to be a part of this ever-growing industry.”