Mumbai, Sambhabana Mohanty has made her small screen debut with the new show “Rajaa Betaa”. The Odia actress, who looks up to popular TV actress Divyanka Tripathi, says she didn’t shift to Mumbai five months ago to try her hand at Bollywood as her focus has always been on doing TV shows.
“I would call myself not ‘too ambitious’ I guess. Bollywood has never been my scene. I don’t know why. When I thought of going to Mumbai, I was not interested in doing web shows or advertisements or Bollywood. Maybe it’s because…I extensively gave auditions for TV shows and it worked out in my favour. My focus has always been on television,” Sambhabana told IANS here.
She doesn’t binge watch TV shows though.
“I don’t watch a lot of TV, but I idolise certain women on Indian TV, like Divyanka Tripathi. She didn’t go to Bollywood to prove that she is extremely good. So, I also wanted to enter the same zone,” said the daughter of actress Snigdha Mohanty.
What if she gets a Hindi movie?
“I would obviously be open to Bollywood movies, web shows and also advertisements because work is work. I wouldn’t say no to it, but it’s not like I would give in all my energy to Bollywood,” she said.
Talking about “Rajaa Betaa”, she shared: “My character Purva does not play Vedant’s (actor Rrahul Sudhir) love interest in the beginning of the show. Purva has a boyfriend and she is planning to marry him. But Purva ends up getting married to Vedant.
Purva plays a vital role in Vedant’s life.
“Vedant has never had a true relationship. He was adopted by a family who don’t respect or love him. It’s just the ‘dadi’ who absolutely adores him,” said Sambhabana.
She has been shooting for the show for the last two months.
“I come from a movie background. We would finish doing a movie in Orissa in two or three months. You also know what’s going to happen in the film and your character whereas in TV shows, you probably know what’s going to happen in the first 10 episodes. Then things change.
“New additions keep on happening. TV shows are more difficult because you need to have ‘on and off switch’. You are expected to cry in one scene, then laugh in another,” she said.
